S3M-05094 Christina McKelvie (Central Scotland) (Scottish National Party): Better Value for Public Purse— That the Parliament congratulates the Royal Mail on securing a £17 million contract with the Scottish Government for postal services; notes that this is a contract across 89 Scottish public sector organisations, thus guaranteeing the Royal Mail the custom from this wide range of bodies for the first time; considers that the delivery of this contract by Procurement Scotland will save the public purse nearly £3 million per year, and further considers that the contract may help to protect the Royal Mail in the face of the hostility shown to it by the UK Government, including the deregulation of postal services nearly four years ago and epitomised by the comments of Pat McFadden MP in the House of Commons on 20 October 2009 that “Competition exists in the postal service, and it will not go away and cannot be wished away. I want a Royal Mail that is fit to win in that market, rather than one that simply wishes competition to go away. The most fundamental challenge to Royal Mail is not competition from other mail companies but competition from other communications technologies. That must lie at the heart of the response to the threatened dispute.”