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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether there is a requirement for telephone providers to have a 15 pence service charge for calls made to the police on the non-emergency 101 number.

There is no obligation on telecom service providers to supply the 101 service free of charge as is the case with 999/112 under the 2003 Communications Act. Calls to 101 cost 15p from a mobile device or landline phones, from anywhere in the country and regardless of duration. Calls are free from payphones. The public have always paid to contact the police by telephone for non-emergencies and the 15p cost of the call goes to the telephony providers to cover the cost of carrying the calls. The police and government receive no money from calls to 101.