 Mae'n gweithio'n meddwl a'r ydych chi am rydyn ni'n fydd yn ei fod yn eich gweithio ar y dyn nhw'n mynd i amser ystod y 3rhyw unrhyw o ddaeth mewn y Cymru. Mae'n fwyaf i'r gweithio ar y cyfrif yn ymgynghwm y 27 ydddi'r ysgolau dyma o'r ysgolau a'r cyfrif yn y ddefnyddio'n amser am y Cyfrif yn y gweithio a'r cyfrif yn y cyfrif yn y cyfrif. Felly i ffwrdd yn cael ei ddweud o'r gwaith, mae Unig Lleidwyr i'r Cymru a'r Gwyrdion Cymru wedi'i gwneud bod yw'r gweithio'r ffordd o'r gweithio'r cyffredinol. Y Llyfr Eru gweithio'r Gwyrdion Cymru i chi'n ffwrdd i'r Gwyrdion Cymru i chi'n meddwl i'r Cymru. fel ohono rhoi'r gweld yn cael ei wneud, a'r ysgolwff mryd o'r cyfrifio ar gyfer allanol ac ynghylch yn ei wneud o'r llon wlad cyfnodol yn ddi-nau eich ysgolwyr ffordd, yw'r gweld yn cyfrifio sy'n ei wneud o'r gweithio a'u gweithio a'u bwaith, yn gweithio i'r gweithio i'r llon i gael y lleol. Rydw i amser i wneud, mae'n nhw'n gweithio i wneud arwyr y glwp sydd yn irtych y gwneud yn credu ein cyfryd I know from my engagement with Royal Mail in the UK the extent of the challenges that operators have faced and the great lengths that postal services have gone to keep the arteries of trade open and to support our drive to get our nations and the world vaccinated. I'm grateful for the opportunity to be able to share some insights of the impact of the pandemic on postal services in the United Kingdom. I'm sorry that I'm not able to hear the contribution directly from other members, but I've asked my officials to keep me briefed on the shared challenges and potential differences as we emerge from the pandemic and look ahead to shape a sustainable future for the postal sector. For the UK, the COVID-19 pandemic has been an unprecedented crisis, which has meant that all sectors, including the postal sector, has had to adapt at pace. Decades of change has been squeezed into a single year. Like many other countries, I'm sure, the UK put in place robust guidance for workplaces and employees designed to mitigate the spread of the virus and protect those key workers, including our postal workers, whose roles were and continue to be critical to the government's pandemic response. UK postal operators had to change their business models to protect the public and adhere to government guidance and on social distancing requirements providing personal protective equipment, mandatory workplace risk assessments and enhanced cleaning regimes. Post-operators took extra voluntary steps to protect their people and customers, for example implementing contactless deliveries and single-person van use. This raised public confidence as well as helping prevent the spread of the disease. During the pandemic, the UK saw a profound shift towards online shopping, which has changed consumers' demands, driving new approaches, including more tracking and returns solutions. The exponential rise in online shopping is both a domestic and international phenomenon, as Brits were instructed to stay at home and non-essential retail providers told to close. We expect this trend to be permanent, even as we return to work and shops. The pandemic has accelerated existing trends in the UK with a marked decrease in letter volumes, especially in the transactional and direct mail streams and an uplift in parcel volumes, which combined with unprecedented levels of staff absences due to the pandemic, provided significant challenges for the UK's universal service provider and the wider sector operators to maintain their use. The pandemic significantly impacted cross-border mail deliveries with the grounding of commercial flights, the closing of borders and the constriction in the delivery networks. At a point in time there were virtually no convincing capacity available, driving up costs and extending delivery times. For the most part, we've seen major changes as our postal operators adapt their business models to find solutions to offer the best delivery service possible, driving change to become a more agile, customer-focused business, changing faster and delivering more things to more people 24x7. They introduced social distancing measures to protect their staff and the public, employed more staff, hired more vehicles, set up temporary parcel hubs, many of these additional measures are still in place. The government role included establishing postal workers as key workers to ensure that their children were able to access school and other educational settings so that their parents and carers could continue to deliver for the nation. As we set up regular two-way communication channels to update the sector on fast-moving government guidelines and hear how that was playing out on the ground and getting feedback to the central government coordinators, the pandemic highlighted just how important the postal sector has been in keeping communities and businesses across the UK connected. Royal Mail also rose to the challenges of the pandemic by taking on additional responsibilities. Key examples of Royal Mail's collaboration with government include supporting the government's public information campaign on COVID-19 by delivering letters from the Prime Minister to all UK households and adding a postmark to millions of letters carrying the UK's government's message to stay home, protect the NHS and save lives. It was also the key delivery partner for the UK government's testing strategy through the delivery of COVID-19 home testing kits. Royal Mail mobilised quickly, setting up 35,000 priority post boxes across the UK for the collection of COVID-19 home testing kits. It instigated Sunday collections to ensure that it can meet the demands of the strategy. And as a result, Royal Mail handles the delivery and collection of more than 3 million COVID-19 test kits each week. This highlights the crucial role that Royal Mail played and continues to play in the national effort to combat the pandemic. I and the rest of the UK am so grateful to them for this. The increase in parcel demand and the need to prioritise key government communications, NHS vaccination letters and COVID-19 test kits, alongside increased absence rates, has meant that service levels have been impacted. I can imagine that this is an issue that has been faced by designated operators around the world. The UK's postal, legislative and regulatory framework has been built in flexibility. It's got built in flexibility to respond to emergency situations. They don't, for example, expect that universal service requirements will be maintained in such circumstances. That's why OFCOM, the UK's independent regulator, publicly declared the pandemic as an emergency, which has given Royal Mail the flexibility to respond effectively to demand through necessary adjustments to its service provision without formal approval. As we hopefully, in the UK, return to something like business as usual over the autumn, we hope that we'll continue to see service provision improve to its previous high levels. The impact on international mail deliveries over these pandemic conditions has not been so easy to resolve and may merit further consideration for the global postal network. The government recognises the challenge of coronavirus for businesses and consumers across all sectors, and we know that postal workers are continuing to work in exceptionally hard circumstances to meet demand. We're a nation with friends, family and business interests across the globe. Our international postal services play an important role for connecting people and trade. Small and medium-sized businesses will be key to our economic recovery post the pandemic, and we see the global postal network as being key to reaching new customers. My remarks today have perhaps set out the tip of the iceberg in terms of the pandemic impacts on our operators and users of the postal service. We know that more change is to come. So, on behalf of the UK government, I'd like to take this opportunity once again to thank Royal Mail and the postal workers of the world for the dedication, support and commitment that they've shown in providing continued service throughout the pandemic. I know that you've got important business to get through today, and for the rest of this Congress, especially as you begin to look beyond the challenges caused by the pandemic. As an active founder member of the UPU, the UK is really keen to continue its participation in the future of the union. That's why we're seeking re-election to the UPU Council of Administration and Postal Operations Council, and of course we would welcome your support. Our vision is to ensure that the UPU as an institution, as well as the global postal system it underpins, will be more efficient, more transparent and provide better value for money for all members. I wish you every success in the meeting today and for the Congress discussions ahead to chart the union's next cycle. Thank you.