Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what discussions he has had with businesses on ensuring customers can contact them on the telephone and not just by email.

Under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, businesses are obligated to provide contact information in a clear and comprehensible manner which is easily, directly and permanently accessible. This includes the business name, the geographical address where the business is established, a telephone number, and email address.

The specific mechanisms businesses use to provide customer services is a commercial decision that the government does not normally seek to intervene in.

While there is no record of a specific discussion on this matter, the Department engages regularly with businesses on consumer law.