Written question asked by Lord Barker of Battle (Conservative) on Monday, 23 May 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 26 May 2005. It was answered by Alun Michael (Labour) on Monday, 6 June 2005 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Premium Rate Lines

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what recent assessment he has made of the number of people affected by malpractices in the premium rate telephone information services industry.

Answer: [holding answer 26 May 2005]: In the first quarter of 2005 complaints received by the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS) were down by a third compared to 2004 at 8,446 complaints. This represents a 33 per cent. reduction in the number of complaints compared to the first quarter of 2004, during which ICSTIS received 12,542 complaints. ICSTIS has taken a number of measures to inform consumers about premium rate services and numbers that appear on their telephone bills, and has increased its use of emergency procedures to close down services before they can cause extensive consumer harm.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 1160; 434 c309W;434 c311W
Session: 2005-06
Subjects: Complaints Fraud Fees and charges Misconduct Telephone services Telephone numbering Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services
Contains statistics: Yes