Terrorism: Public Alert Technology

Debate between Lord Young of Cookham and Baroness Harris of Richmond

Monday 16th April 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Young of Cookham]

Any progress will of course be made after consultation with the police, but my understanding is that that problem can be overcome. Basically, what we are looking at is the reverse of a 999 scheme: instead of the citizen telephoning the emergency services and asking for help, the emergency services contact the citizen and give the citizen advice. There is real potential to avoid damage to individuals and to property if the scheme is worked up, but there are some issues that need to be addressed before we can make progress with a trial.

[Baroness Harris of Richmond (LD)]

My Lords, can the Minister tell us what network providers have been contacted about this and whether they have agreed to carry out this system?

[Lord Young of Cookham]

The noble Baroness is quite right that this would need the co-operation of the communication providers and, indeed, Ofcom. My understanding is that after initial discussions they are willing to take part in such a service: that is not one of the obstacles we envisage in our way.