Nuisance Callers
Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Baroness Seccombe
Baroness Seccombe
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the recent announcement that cold-callers will have to display their phone numbers, what more they plan to do to prevent vulnerable people from being targeted by unscrupulous callers.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills and Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Neville-Rolfe) (Con)
My Lords, during the passage of the Consumer Rights Act, I made a commitment to this House that the Government would make it a requirement for direct marketing callers to display caller line identification, so I am delighted that this requirement will come into force on 16 May. It is part of a package of measures that we will be introducing to protect the most vulnerable in society from the plague of nuisance calls.
Baroness Seccombe (Con)
My Lords, most of your Lordships have a mobile, probably along with a landline at home. Many elderly people have just a landline that, very often, is their link to the outside world. For a frail and elderly person receiving a call on a long dark night, imaginations can run riot and it can be quite terrifying. I congratulate the Minister on this initiative, but is she able to tell me how it will be policed and whether she has any advice for consumers?
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
The Information Commissioner will enforce these new regulations and has the power to issue fines of up to ÂŁ500,000 against organisations that breach the law. However, my noble friend is right that it is also important to know how to prevent nuisance calls: register with the TPS; report numbers when they come through; and help your elderly relatives to do so. Ofcom is working with the TPS to improve things. This is a complex area and we have to move forward gradually on a number of fronts.
Rugby World Cup 2015
Debate between Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Baroness Seccombe
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
The parliamentary rugby match is an excellent example of grass-roots rugby, demonstrating over the past 20 years that rugby can be enjoyed by people of all ages. I understand that the noble Lord has regularly distinguished himself in those matches, and I wish him and the team well—and every success for England as well.
Baroness Seccombe (Con)
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that it is a joy to know that the Rugby World Cup is on terrestrial television—unlike the cricket, which suffers from the fact that a whole generation of young people, unless they have Sky, never gets the opportunity to see it on television?
Baroness Neville-Rolfe
I agree with the noble Baroness. The Rugby World Cup is on ITV; the final is an A-listed event. We all look forward to a strong few weeks of television, and joy, whoever gets through to the final stages.