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Written question asked by Graham Stuart (Conservative) on Friday, 9 January 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 13 January 2009. It was answered by Geoffrey Hoon (Labour) on Monday, 26 January 2009 on behalf of the Department for Transport.

Departmental Telephone Services

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what use (a) his Department and (b) service providers under contract to his Department make of (i) 0844 and 0845 telephone numbers and (ii) revenue-sharing telephone numbers for calls from members of the public; for which services such numbers are used; what prefixes are used for revenue-sharing numbers; how much revenue has accrued from revenue-sharing numbers in each of the last five years; what consideration his Department has given to introducing 03-prefixed telephone numbers for calls to all such services; and if he will make a statement.
Original answer

The Department for Transport and its Executive agencies operate three 0845 numbers and one 0844 number. The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency uses 0870 revenue-sharing numbers to provide access to nine public services. Information about these is set out as follows:

Number DfT or agency Purpose Revenue (yes/no)
0845 877 0877 DfT Freight Best Practice helpline providing free information to promote operational efficiency No
0845 750 4030 HA Motorway and trunk road information line No
0845 600 5977 VOSA Garages hotline for checking MOT standards No
0844 800 0819 VCA Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment helpline No
0870 240 0009 DVLA Allows the public to ask general driving licence inquiries Yes
0870 240 0010 DVLA Allows the public to ask general vehicle inquiries Yes
0870 600 0301 DVLA Allows the public to ask advice about health conditions and their effect on driver licensing Yes
0870 241 1878 DVLA Allows vocational drivers to seek advice regarding driver licensing Yes
0870 850 4444 DVLA Allows the licensing of vehicles over the telephone Yes
0870 850 0007 DVLA Allows customers to access information on DVLA's local office network Yes
0870 608 0604 DVLA 'Continuous registration' fine payment line Yes
0870 850 2963 DVLA Helpline for customers using our online driving licence service Yes
0870 850 1074 DVLA Allows customers to seek advice on the use of Smart Tachographs Yes

Revenue information from the DVLA services is only available since January 2005. The figures are shown by calendar year.

£
2005 2,130,881
2006 2,328,307
2007 3,329,794
2008 3,047,304

In addition, the Driving Standards Agency and the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency have recently switched from 0870 to 0300 numbers for calls made to their contact centres. Revenue information about these is set out as follows:

£
DSA VOSA
2004-05 706,399 10,386
2005-06 693,254 63,400
2006-07 623,284 72,400
2007-08 672,048 78,600
2008-09 ¹208,512 ²52,000
¹ DSA switched to 0300 line on 31 October 2008.
² VOSA switched to 0300 line on 30 September 2008.

Consideration is currently being given to switching to 0300 numbers for the Freight Best Practice helpline and for the Highways Agency Information Line. DVLA had intended moving to 0300 numbers in line with Ofcom recommendations prior to the retraction of the Ofcom paper on use of 0870 numbers. Preparations to move to 0300 are still in place, once the Ofcom paper and recommendations are republished.

It has since been corrected.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
487 c4-6W (489 11MC); 247349
Session
2008-09
Related items
Departmental Telephone Services
Thursday, 12 March 2009
Written corrections
House of Commons
Notes
Corrected on 12 March 2009 at 489 c11MC
Subjects
Department for Transport Telephone services
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk