When asked to state the “policy” of the Secretary of State for Health on the issue of use of expensive telephone numbers, Health Minister Dr Dan Poulter has replied with a written answer (Hansard 29 Oct 2012 col 95W). He implies an ignorance and possible lack of concern about whether or not the terms of GP contracts are being enforced in every locality.
Click above to view the question, the answer and also our annotation, which explains and reports what is actually happening.

We react to news of a cold call victim having to take personal action, and succeeding.

This highlights the need for our proposed change in procedure for dealing with cases of “Nuisance calls”.

This briefing paper (updated 10 December) explains how use of concurrent 084 and geographic numbers by NHS GPs IS a two-tier NHS. It includes simple quotations from relevant sources, actual examples and a detailed explanation with an illustration.

One quoted example refers to geographic number options, but concludes
“we must stress in case of emergency please ring 084…”.

My briefing concludes …
It must be clear to all that a TWO-TIER NHS is unacceptable
… at its very front door (access to GPs) … and obviously beyond!

On Friday 19 October, the Kent Messenger reported and commented on the fact that more than 30 GP practices across the county continue to use and adopt banned 084 telephone numbers - see images from the paper.

The investigation which led to this report was prompted by a detailed briefing issued on 7 September 2012 by the fair telecoms campaign.

View the full news release to read our comments.

This release draws attention to the imminent closure of the consultation on implementation of the provisions of the EU Consumer Rights Directive, notably article 21 which requires a ban on use of expensive telephone numbers for "post contract" contact.

It stresses the need for responses to ensure that the scope is as comprehensive as possible, and also makes the point that this formal prohibition must be used to indicate what is generally unacceptable.

John Healey MP has secured a written answer from a DWP Minister confirming that the DWP uses 130 different 0845 telephone numbers to benefit from Service Charges paid by those making enquiries. The release gives a breakdown and lists the services subject to a charge for enquiries. These include: The Pensions Service, Jobcentre Plus and all of the Allowances paid to those in need - Attendance, Disability Living, Maternity, Winter Fuel.

This is no longstanding legacy situation, as also included are the newly introduced Benefits Cap and the Employment and Support Allowance, which replaces Invalidity Benefit.

This comes at a time when a government consultation on plans to prohibit businesses from using customer enquiries phone numbers which include a Service Charge to the benefit of the person called is coming to a close. See - Consultation … closes on 1 November.

When these two items are taken together, they show a “re-balancing of the economy” that some may find distasteful. Consumers of private sector services are to be protected from being subjected to Service Charges, whereas those requiring the services of the state continue to be subjected to fees.

People in the UK are plagued by unsolicited nuisance phone calls from various organisations. This is despite regulations and statutory powers that are in place to prevent them.

It is currently down to Ofcom and the ICO to police this area, but they have demonstrated that they are unable to operate in the necessary manner. Both bodies operate on the principle of regulating (i.e. limiting) the scale of impropriety rather than setting out to eliminate it. For example, Ofcom actively does nothing about call centres that generate Silent Calls within specified boundaries.

Nuisance Calls Agency

The fair telecoms campaign would like to see a new specialist agency be established to tackle nuisance telephone calls. It would provide citizens with a single point of contact for unsolicited marketing communications and silent calls.

The Agency would ensure proper use of the existing statutory powers. It would be focussed on stamping out the practices of:

• Unsolicited marketing calls, without consent;
• Unsolicited marketing text messages and faxes;
• Recorded message marketing calls; and
• Silent calls.

We think that Citizens Advice will be the ideal organisation to host this new agency. It already provides the statutory consumer advice line (formerly Consumer Direct by OFT). From April 2013 it will become the statutory advocate for the consumer interest when it takes over from Consumer Focus. It already has much of the contact with citizens and consumers that is required. As such we believe that it holds the skills, knowledge and experience necessary to operate this new agency.

For more information see:

• Outline proposal - a new agency to deal with "Nuisance Telephone Calls" (PDF)