The chairman of the Post Office has apologised after breaching parliamentary rules on answering questions.

At last week’s Tynwald sitting Julie Edge declined to reveal how many small packages and parcels were delivered in the first four months of this year, claiming this was ’commercially sensitive’.

Members can refuse to answer questions in Tynwald if they apply to get the president’s consent that it is contrary to the public interest.

At this week’s sitting, Tynwald president Steve Rodan said Ms Edge was in breach of standing orders as she had failed to do this.

Mr Rodan said the Post Office chairman had apologised. He said: ’Had she applied to me I would have agreed.’

Ms Edge told Tynwald last week that putting details about parcel and packet volumes in the public domain would provide information to competitors that could be detrimental to the Post Office, and as such is commercially sensitive.