Presumably a wishy-washy response will be forthcoming but good to see that this is getting parliamentary exposure.

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SELECT COMMITTEE REPORTS

QUESTIONS FOR WRITTEN ANSWER

[Tabled on 19th October, or unanswered after 14 days]

19th October

The Lord Tyler—To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency now follows the guidance of the Central Office of Information and OFCOM in relation to the use of 0870 and 0845 telephone numbers for public enquiries. (HL1835)

The Lord Tyler—To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Department for Work and Pensions, and the executive agencies for which it is responsible, now follow the guidance of the Central Office of Information and OFCOM in relation to the use of 0870 and 0845 telephone numbers for public enquiries. (HL1836)

The Lord Tyler—To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Home Office, and the executive agencies for which it is responsible, now follow the guidance of the Central Office of Information and OFCOM in relation to the use of 0870 and 0845 telephone numbers for public enquiries. (HL1837)

The Lord Tyler—To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Foreign and Commonwealth Office now follows the guidance of the Central Office of Information and OFCOM in relation to the use of 0870 and 0845 telephone numbers for public enquiries. (HL1838)

The Lord Tyler—To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the Office of Fair Trading now follows the guidance of the Central Office of Information and OFCOM in relation to the use of 0870 and 0845 telephone numbers for public enquiries. (HL1839)
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And what good will the revised Contact Centre guidance of the COI (issued at the alleged behest of Ofcom) be when the jokers at Ofcom allow 0845 to remain as a premium rate call whilst 0870 numbers return to being charged at geographic rates.

It would appear that as a result of Ofcom's own extremely confused and almost totally incoherent thinking a lot of government departments will end up having moved on to 0845 number which will then turn out to be a far worse deal for their callers than if they had stayed on the 0870 number. ::)

Perhaps just a few point that people might like to include in their reponses to the Ofcom consultation.