Thompson’s first appearance in January proved controversial, and he was accused of giving misleading answers to the MPs' questions about the current situation at Royal Mail. 

He was recalled after a large number of postal workers contacted the committee taking issue with the statements Thompson made regarding matters such as Royal Mail’s approach to the Universal Service Obligation (USO) and whether it was prioritising parcels over letters, as well as its use of worker tracking technology. 

Royal Mail is embroiled in a long-running and damaging industrial dispute involving around 115,000 workers who are members of the CWU. 

A union spokesperson said: “It is a sad day for Royal Mail that Simon Thompson has been hauled back in front of legislators over concerns he misled them during an integral part of the democratic process.

“In the interests of public accountability, we hope for a thorough scrutinising that can present a more realistic picture of Royal Mail than the one Thompson originally offered.”

Keith Williams, chairman of Royal Mail parent International Distributions Services and Ricky McAulay, operations development director at Royal Mail will appear alongside Thompson.

BEIS is set to be split into three separate departments under changes announced by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier this month. 

Separately, Royal Mail has at last been able to more or less fully restore its international export services, following a ransomware attack six weeks ago. 

In the latest update today (22 February), Royal Mail said that international export services “have now been reinstated to all destinations”, with the exception of a small number of untracked contract services for business customers where alternatives are available. 

Customers can now purchase postage online, through shipping solutions and over the counter at Post Office branches, with the Post Office option taking the longest to restore.

However, delivery of some international items could still take “slightly longer than usual”.