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 level of complexity of the system for people complaining about nuisance calls; and what assessment he has made of the potential merits of consolidating that system under one body.

Tackling nuisance calls is a priority for the Department. We continue to improve signposting information and advice for people wanting to make a complaint. This is mirrored across both regulators websites:

http://consumers.ofcom.org.uk/phone/tackling-nuisance-calls-and-messages http://ico.org.uk/for_the_public/topic_specific_guides/marketing/calls.

Earlier this year, we published our Nuisance Calls Action Plan on 30th March 2014 to enforce existing regulations effectively. Our achievements to date and the work that is currently underway can be viewed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/nuisance-calls-consultation.

Additionally, on 25 October 2014, we published our consultation that proposes to lower or remove the legal threshold for the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to take action against offending organisations. By lowering or removing the legal threshold, the ICO will be able to issue more monetary penalties to organisations in breach of the regulations. The ICO also continues to work collaboratively with Ofcom as evidenced by their joint Action plan, last updated on 3 March 2014: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/silent-calls/joint-action-plan