Today, Thursday 16 January, a debate on the subject of “Nuisance Calls” is scheduled for the main commons chamber. It is the second item of backbench business to be fitted into a slot between roughly 11:30 and 17:00, and so is likely to begin at some time between 14:00 and 15:00.
The debate will be opened by Mike Crockart MP, who is likely to repeat his familiar call for revisions to the terms of the existing failed regulations, as proposed by Which?

Whilst supporting the obvious need to tidy up anomalies in the existing regulations, we suggest that much more radical action is required for there to be any significant change to the situation.

In summary, we are pleased to see many of our comments, as presented in evidence, noted in the report. We welcome the limited recommendations, but are concerned that they do not include the radical steps required to get to grips with this unacceptable and growing problem.

Not all telephone calls that we receive are welcome - if we wish to remain open to contact by telephone we cannot avoid this fact of life. Some calls are rightly classified as simply "Nuisance". There are laws and regulations intended to prevent the practice of making Nuisance Calls - that is what needs to be stopped. Sadly, poor enforcement action means a low level of compliance.

Our view is that very little is needed in terms of new legislation to address this problem - simply a few tweaks, the need for which has been accepted. The focus must be on measures to achieve compliance, including proper regulation and enforcement action by those best placed to achieve compliance. These are the respective sectoral regulators, not Ofcom and the ICO.

The ineffectiveness of Ofcom and the ICO, along with the mistaken belief that the TPS is some type of "service", as opposed to simply a means of indicating a widely-disrespected preference, leads many people to seek to take avoidance action themselves.

Not only is this unnecessary, apart from the situation of those who wish or need to have a call filtering device, it can also lead to worthless effort or expenditure. There are companies who seek to exploit the problem of nuisance calls for financial gain, in many cases overstating the likely benefit of what they offer and in some cases being engaged in outright scams.

Whilst TPS Limited is not itself wholly blameless in respect of improperly raised expectations, it publishes a list of those known to be engaged in offering products and services that are likely to be misrepresented.

We recently appeared in a broadcast of the BBC Wales series X-Ray which covered both a scam service and an ineffective blocking device. Both items are now available to view in a playlist →

Our stated conclusions are that:

• Many companies exploit people's vain hope that there is something that they themselves can do about nuisance calls.
• The only way to deal with the problem is for proper standards of conduct and compliance with the law to be enforced by those able to undertake such action.

As the Culture Media and Sport Committee concludes its inquiry into Nuisance Calls and Texts, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Nuisance Calls completes its parallel inquiry and DCMS prepares to make a further statement on the topic, we offer a further summary submission.

This highlights the key points we have to make on the subject:

• The regulatory interventions of Ofcom and the ICO are seen to have failed to address the issue and must continue to do so.

• Intervention by properly engaged industry regulators must be seen as the means of addressing the problem.

• A single agency, to represent the interests of citizens and consumers in this matter, must be established using existing resources and without the need for further legislation.
  

A news release has been issued to draw attention to a story in the Sunday Post - with an additional story and comment, and an article from the Kirkintilloch Herald.
Some of our commentary follows.

In response to the BT price change announcements to take effect from 4 January 2014, which will shortly be circulated to customers,we address four elements of these changes:

• Introduction of a charge for the “BT Privacy at Home” service
• Introduction of a charge for the “BT Answer 1571” service
• A 5.6% increase to the charge for the “Choose to Refuse” service
• A 5.4% increase to the charge for the “Anonymous Caller Reject” service

Statement on the general issue of ‘Nuisance Calls’
Whilst the fair telecoms campaign recognises the important role that individual remedies and mitigation measures play, it considers the issue of Nuisance Calls, made over the public telephone network, to be a public matter. The ICO and Ofcom have a part to play in addressing this, through enforcement of the terms of Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations and use of the Persistent Misuse powers. It has however been proved that these bodies, even with some adjustment to the respective regulations and policies, will never be in a position to have any serious impact on the issue. Existing sectoral regulators do however have the necessary, and more appropriate, powers to control the activity that causes nuisance to be experienced, either directly or indirectly. We believe that those who seek to truly understand the situation, and wish for a serious improvement, must cease dealing with relatively trivial points that are accepted and turn their attention towards what is necessary to address the issue in an effective manner.

Last month we reported Two Inquiries into Nuisance Calls.

The fair telecoms campaign has presented initial written evidence to the inquiry by the Culture Media and Sport Committee of parliament into Nuisance Telephone Calls and Texts. (see below)

We have also been invited to submit oral evidence to the Committee. This will take place in a session at 10:30 on Tuesday 3 September 2013. The proceedings will be shown live on the web, at http://www.parliamentlive.tv, and will be available to watch later there and on BBC Parliament.

All evidence, written and oral, will be published by the committee itself - see the inquiry webpage.