Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to protect mobile phone users from being signed up to PayForIT services without consent or knowledge.

The regulation of premium rate services, including those offered via the PayForIT payment method, requires that consumers must not be charged for such services without their consent or knowledge. The Phone-paid Services Authority (PSA), the UK’s regulator of premium rate services, is continuing to work with the industry to tackle this issue, by improving security standards and updating consent to charge guidance. The PSA also takes robust enforcement action against breaches of its regulation and this includes imposing substantial fines, ordering refunds to be made to affected consumers and prohibiting service providers and individuals from providing phone-paid services for a period of time.