Written question asked by Tim Yeo (Conservative) on Thursday, 23 January 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 31 January 2003. It was answered by Patricia Hewitt (Labour) on Friday, 31 January 2003 on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Dept of Trade and Industry

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, if she will list the telephone services operated by her Department and its agencies; and how many calls have been made to each service in the last 12 months. - Includes figures and fact that numbers of calls made to each of these services are not held centrally.

Answer: Mr. Yeo: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the telephone services operated by her Department and its agencies; and how many calls have been made to each service in the last 12 months. [93800] Ms Hewitt: My Department and its agencies operate a range of telephone services in support of their work, in particular: Direct Dialling In, which is used extensively throughout the Department and its agencies, giving direct access to customers to individual members of staff or to advertised call centres and inquiry points. Call Centres, with 11 currently in use, offering advice and guidance on a range of issues. General Inquiry Points, put in place to handle specific areas of help and information. Numbers will vary at any given time but at the last review these totalled some 33 DTI and 25 Agency Inquiry Points. Numbers of calls made to each of these services are not held centrally but the numbers are significant. For example, ACAS, who run two call centres, received 750,000 calls in the last 12 months and the main DTI Inquiry Point received 304,800 calls during 2002.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 93800; 398 c1069W;398 c1063W
Session: 2002-03
Subjects: Executive agencies Department of Trade and Industry Telephone services Telephones
Contains statistics: Yes
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk