Asked by: Graeme Morrice (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the number of nuisance calls made by companies in (a) the UK and (b) abroad to customers registered with the Telephone Preference Service; and if he will bring forward proposals to increase fines for businesses that breach the law on nuisance calls.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
No estimate has been made about the level of nuisance calls made by companies in the UK or abroad to Telephone Preference Service (TPS) registered consumers, as this type of information is not readily available. However, tackling nuisance calls is a priority for the Department, including those that are made to consumers who are registered with the TPS. We published the first ever Nuisance Calls Action Plan on 30 March 2014: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nuisance-calls-action-plan-unveiled.This set out our achievements to date, work underway and proposed actions for the future, which included both legislative and non-legislative measures. We are currently pursuing these measures, which we believe that as a combination are beginning to make a significant difference for the benefit of consumers. The Information Commissioner’s Office’s Office (ICO) can issue a substantial monetary penalty of up to £500,000 to any organisation for breaching the TPS and therefore we are not looking to increase this further. However, we have consulted between 25 October and 6 December 2014, proposing to lower or preferably remove the legal threshold, as this will make it easier for the ICO to issue more monetary penalties. The Government’s Response will follow shortly in 2015. Details of enforcement action taken to date by ICO can be viewed at: http://ico.org.uk/enforcement/action/calls
Asked by: Graeme Morrice (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate his Department has made of the level of nuisance calls made by companies in (a) the UK and (b) abroad; and what steps he is taking to reduce the number of such calls to (i) older and more vulnerable customers and (ii) others.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
No estimate has been made about the level of nuisance calls made by companies in the UK or abroad, as this type of information is not readily available. However, tackling nuisance calls is a priority for the Department, including those that are made to the elderly, vulnerable and other consumers. We published the first ever Nuisance Calls Action Plan on 30 March 2014: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nuisance-calls-action-plan-unveiled. This set out our achievements to date, work underway and proposed actions for the future, which included both legislative and non-legislative measures. We are currently pursuing these measures, which as a combination are beginning to make a significant difference for the benefit of all consumers.
Asked by: Graeme Morrice (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of emergency telephone coverage in West Lothian local authority area.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has not made any specific assessment of the adequacy of emergency telephone coverage in the West Lothian local authority area. However, the Department and the independent national telecommunications regulator (Ofcom) work closely with all the Scottish emergency services and communications providers on matters such as this through the Government's 999/112 Liaison Committee. All the Scottish emergency services have been key contributors both in discussions on next generation access to 999 and in reviewing the code of practice that defines how emergency services and telecommunications providers work together.
Asked by: Graeme Morrice (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has any plans to end the employee trade union membership dues check-off system.
Answered by Helen Grant
Check-off is a matter delegated to Departments and it is for them to determine the appropriateness of continuing with the current arrangements. DCMS is in the process of reviewing its current arrangements for provision of check-off.
Asked by: Graeme Morrice (Labour - Livingston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what evaluation his Department has undertaken of the roll out of superfast broadband in rural communities in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
The results of an impact study on the Government's broadband programmes published in November 2013 showed that the programmes would achieve a return by 2024 of £20 for every £1 invested. The study did not disaggregate these results across the UK but 89 per cent of the programme benefits were expected to accrue to areas outside London and the South East of England. Funding of £100.8 million of the Government's initial £530 million superfast broadband programme has been allocated to Scotland and the Government announced an indicative funding allocation of a further £20.99 million for Scotland from the additional £250 million programme in February 2014.