I refer the Hon Member to the Government’s statement and release of information on 1st June, providing an update on the response to the Humble Address. The documents published in the first and second tranches contain the entirety of the documents the Government has available for disclosure, except those being withheld at the request of the Metropolitan police.

We regularly raise Lindsay and Craig's case with the Iranian authorities at both ministerial and official level, and continually stress the importance we attach to their health, their welfare, and their ability to contact family members.

Officials also continue to provide consular assistance directly to the couple, including during a recent consular visit by His Majesty's Ambassador to Iran. We provide regular support and advice to Craig and Lindsay's family members as well. I speak with them regularly, and the Foreign Secretary met them on 17 March.

As the Foreign Secretary has said, the sentence given to Lindsay and Craig is completely unjustified and appalling, and we will continue to raise their case until they are safely returned home.

In the past six months, a total of 900,960 international call attempts were made from prisoners to over 150 different countries. Any telephone calls made by prisoners, including international calls, are paid for by the prisoner themselves. All calls are logged and recorded, with an exemption for calls with legal representatives. As these figures represent call attempts made, they do not distinguish between successful and unsuccessful connections.

Furthermore, not all call attempts recorded as being made to the USA were necessarily intended for the recipients in the USA, as this may be used as a routing point for calls to other international destinations.

A full breakdown of all the countries that received a call attempt from UK prisoners, and the total number of call attempts made to each country in the last six months can be found in the attached document.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 29 April 2026, PQ 123637.

The most recent Ofcom research on the scale of spoofing calls reveals that in February 2025, two in five phone users said they received a suspicious call in the last three months. Tackling fraud and pursuing the criminals behind it is a priority for the government. We are working closely with industry and regulators to reduce spoofing and other forms of telecoms-enabled fraud.

In November 2025, the Government published the second Telecommunications Fraud Sector Charter, signed by major mobile network operators including BT EE, Virgin Media O2, and VodafoneThree. Through the Charter, signatories' committed to measures to tackle spoofing, including adopting common standards to reduce fraud and abuse across all network-originated messaging channels.

As the independent regulator, Ofcom also consulted in 2025 on proposals to strengthen rules on overseas calls that falsely present UK numbers, including updates to its Calling Line Identification Guidance. The Government supports this work and continues to engage with Ofcom and industry to protect customers. More recently, on 9 March 2026, the Home Office also published its new Fraud Strategy which sets out how the Government will work with all partners, including law enforcement and industry, to make the UK a much harder place for criminals to operate.

Calls from prison wing payphones and in-cell phones are charged at the same national rates.

Calls to UK landlines:

• 2.48 pence per minute during the week midnight Sunday to midday Friday

• 2.20 pence per minute during the weekend midday Friday to midnight Sunday

Calls to UK Mobiles

• 5.50 pence per minute during the week Sunday to midday Friday

• 3.60 pence per minute during the weekend midday Friday to midnight Sunday

The Ministry of Justice has reduced call rates in the public prison estate by negotiating a 20% reduction to all UK landline and UK mobile numbers. These rates have applied since 1 April 2025 and support the Department’s commitment to maintaining family contact.

Source: Ministry of Justice letter to the Justice Committee, July 2025: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/48682/documents/255236/default

Departments publish email addresses as the first means of contacting Ministers. All departments have processes to ensure correspondence via email reaches the intended Minister or team in a rapid manner, meaning there should be no reduction in the ability of MPs to contact Ministers' private offices. MPs may, in any such email correspondence, request a phone call with a departmental official or a member of the Minister's private office.

This is a very important issue which the government has been closely engaged with since it took office. It is important to note that landlines are not being withdrawn, but their underlying technology is being moved from Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP).

The switchover is an industry led programme. The Government is determined to ensure that any and all risks of the industry-led migration from PSTN to VoIP are mitigated. Communication providers and network operators signed voluntary charters in December 2023 and March 2024, ensuring their commitment to protect vulnerable consumers during the PSTN migration. On 18 November 2024, the major communication providers agreed to adhere to further safeguards set out in the non-voluntary migrations checklist before restarting non-voluntary migration of customers from PSTN to VoIP.

General practices (GPs) and other National Health Service organisations are encouraged to support patients to use online routes where this would be convenient for them, and there is work to improve the usability of digital tools so that they are accessible to larger numbers of patients. However, a choice of access routes should remain available.

As outlined in the GP Contract, digital services should be provided in addition to other channels for accessing GPs, such as in person visits, rather than as a replacement. Practice receptions should also remain open to ensure that those without access to a telephone or online services are not disadvantaged.

The Government takes fraud seriously. DSIT works closely with the Home Office, who are responsible for fraud policy, as well as Ofcom who have duty to ensure that UK numbers are not misused, to ensure telecoms companies are doing all they can to prevent criminals hijacking their networks to reach victims. From January, new Ofcom rules will require operators to block calls from abroad which present as a UK number.

We continue to work with the telecoms sector to ensure that as threats evolve so too does the response.

The Government takes fraud seriously. DSIT works closely with the Home Office, who are responsible for fraud policy, as well as Ofcom who have duty to ensure that UK numbers are not misused, to ensure telecoms companies are doing all they can to prevent criminals hijacking their networks to reach victims. From January, new Ofcom rules will require operators to block calls from abroad which present as a UK number.

We continue to work with the telecoms sector to ensure that as threats evolve so too does the response.

The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) and the accompanying PACE codes of practice establish the powers of the police to combat crimes while protecting the rights of the public. PACE Code H focuses on detention, treatment and questioning by the police under terrorism legislation.

PACE Code H 2023 can be accessed via Gov.uk and details a person’s right to communication with ‘one named person’. The code sets out the following:

While held in custody at a police station or other premises the detainee may, on request, have one named person who is a friend, relative or a person known to them who is likely to take an interest in their welfare informed by the custody officer that they have been detained. They may also request a phone call or other form of communication with the ‘named person’.

At the custody officer’s discretion and subject to the detainee’s consent, visits should be allowed, when possible, subject to sufficient personnel being available to supervise a visit and any possible hindrance to the investigation.

However, in limited circumstances the nature of an investigation might mean that such requests (for visits, phone-calls or other form of communication) cannot be met. This is risk assessed on an individual basis, and in accordance with the considerations set out in Annex B to the Code. In this situation consideration is given to increasing the frequency of visits from independent visitor schemes, such as by the Independent Custody Visitors Association.

Any delay or denial of these rights should be proportionate and should last no longer than necessary.

Schools in England do not have a legal requirement to report to the department threats that are received via phone calls. However, schools are expected to have policies and procedures in place to handle these situations. The procedures may include reporting threats to local authorities and the police, this depends on the nature and severity of the threat. Schools may also choose to inform the relevant authorities as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety and security of students and staff.

There are a total of 10 Women’s Public Sector Prisons (8 closed and 2 open) in England which are run by His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service.

• All cells in the 8 prisons within the women’s closed estate have 100% In-Cell Telephony.
• Neither of the 2 prisons within the women’s open estate have any In-Cell Telephony, 0%.

There are a total of 97 Men’s Prisons (84 closed and 13 open) in England and Wales, which are run by His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service.

Of the 84 closed men’s prisons:

• 78 prisons have received In-Cell Telephony throughout, 100%.
• 4 prisons are currently at the end of implementation, therefore these prisons are 98% live with In-Cell Telephony and should complete within the next two weeks.
• 2 prisons are at implementation stage and are due to complete on February 24, therefore the proportion is currently 0%.

Of the 13 open men’s prisons:

• 1 prison has In-Cell Telephony throughout, 100%.
• 12 prisons do not have any In-Cell Telephony, 0%.

It is important to note that there are limitations to call usage on these devices. The PIN Phone system enables this as it can be configured on a site by site basis to best suit the needs of the site. This configuration applies to the time scales in which calls can be made, the number of calls which a single prisoner can make within those timescales and also the maximum amount of time the prisoner can spend on calls.

Additionally, each prisoner is issued a unique PIN number which they will use to make outside calls. These PIN numbers are pre-loaded with calling credit and also contain pre-approved numbers which security have sanctioned for the prisoner to use. The prison can configure the system to decide when the phones will be available to the prisoner. Support frameworks such as the Samaritans are accessible 24hrs a day via a dedicated PIN number which is available to prisoners.

The cost per minute for prison wing payphone and in-cell phones are:

Calls to UK fixed lines:

3.10 pence during the week midnight Sunday to midday Friday
2.75 pence during the weekend midday Friday to midnight Sunday

Calls to UK mobiles:

6.88 pence during the week midnight Sunday to midday Friday
4.50 pence during the weekend midday Friday to midnight Sunday

Prisons are able to limit when calls can be made and the duration of time an individual can use a PIN phone for on a given day. These limitations will reflect the local capacity to handle multiple calls concurrently and their requirement to resource the monitoring of specific calls.

Prisoners pay for their own calls using prison earnings or money sent into them from family and friends. Calls to organisations such as the Samaritans are free to prisoners with HMPPS paying for these directly.

All public closed prisons within England and Wales which includes HMP Woodhill have a stock of pin phone handsets that are replaced on site in the event of the handset not working. If the fault is relating to cabling or port damage then the contracted supplier will attend the prison to resolve the issue.

The finance sector, including ATM providers are well-prepared for the switch over from the public switched telephone network to voice over internet (VoIP) in 2025.