Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the (a) maximum and (b) average number of call options a customer can choose from when making a telephone call to HM Revenue and Customs' customer service helpline.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) cannot say what the maximum and average number of call options are that customers can choose from when making a telephone call to one of their customer service helplines. This is because the options vary depending on which helpline the customer calls.

In addition HMRC uses automated speech recognition on its main helplines which responds to customers spoken requests, negating the need for them to select from a sequence of predetermined keypad options