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Call Centre Activity

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Ceredigion (Mark Williams) for his informed intervention. The points that he makes are right. Customer satisfaction and local knowledge are important. Returning to the Norwich Union example, the research that the company undertook before outsourcing its jobs discovered that 51 per cent. of respondents were appalled at the prospect of outsourcing call centres abroad. However, it does not seem to have had any effect on the company’s final decision. I am particularly concerned about disadvantaged individuals such as people from poorer backgrounds and those, like myself, who suffer from blood pressure problems. I am sorry to say that with call centres in the United Kingdom, including, I am sorry to say sometimes Government call centres, blood pressure can be a real problem. One must be emotionally calm and well psyched up before calling, so that one does not end up—in my case—cross, tearful or both by the end of the call, as a result of frustration at being unable to obtain the information that one needs, or even to get through to the individual whom one needs to speak to, in a reasonable amount of time. The quality of the information that is given has also been called into question. Call centres are not regulated for their quality of financial advice, as banks are. In The Guardian on 18 October, there was an article about misleading advice given by a call centre on individual voluntary arrangements. The individuals who gave the advice stood to benefit from giving that advice. Obviously, the quality of the advice given must be monitored scrupulously. Telemarketing is a £4 billion industry in the United Kingdom. There is a big challenge for telemarketing companies, because 13 million people are registered with the telephone preference service. If the hon. Gentleman wishes to see me afterwards I shall give him the details of how he can register, but I suspect that he is interested to find out what unsolicited calls he will get. Will the Minister comment on the idea that seems to be gaining ground in the field of telemarketing that, rather than people having to opt out of receiving cold calls, the Government should consider introducing legislation whereby people have to opt in? That would be beneficial for the telemarketing companies, which are fishing in a smaller and smaller pool. If they were fishing in a pool that wanted to be fished, that might benefit both the blood pressure of residents who do not want to receive cold calls and the marketing companies, who would be fishing more productively. It would not be right for me to finish without mentioning silent calls, which were the subject of a Westminster Hall debate in March. The Government target of 3 per cent. for abandoned calls is welcome, as are the requirements that before a call is ended there must be a recorded message and that the number must be accessible on 1471. The fine has been increased from £5,000 to £50,000 but—it is a very big ““but””—regulation will not work unless it is enforced. I am sorry to say that, following the criticisms levelled at Ofcom about the enforcement of rules on silent calls and other such matters, there is little evidence that the situation has improved. I hope that the Minister will be able to reassure me by giving examples of cases in which Ofcom has prosecuted somebody for the iniquitous practices that cause so much distress to local people.