Interesting (but not particularly helpful) reply to one of my e-mailed queries to the NAO received this morning:
Dear Mr Smith
Thank you for your e-mail message of 2 March 2005 to Sir John Bourn, the Comptroller and Auditor General, on the use of 0844 telephone numbers. As the Director responsible for value for money examinations of Ofcom, the regulator of communications, I am replying on Sir John's behalf. I have consulted my colleagues dealing with health matters, who have spoken with the Department of Health.
0844 numbers were introduced in January 2000 by the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel), Ofcom's predecessor, to help provide users with a clearer idea of what calls to these special services will cost. To make proper choices between alternative telephony services, and between telephony and other methods of communication, consumers need to be well informed about costs. 0844 numbers help in this regard in that calls to these numbers are capped at 5 pence per minute. Unfortunately, however, one of the key findings from our July 2003 report on Oftel was the lack of consumer awareness about telephone tariffs.
Oftel was aware of the public's concern about the potential adverse affects on consumers from the increasing use of non-geographical numbers like 0870 and 0844, and began a major review of the use such numbers. Ofcom has been progressing this matter and its latest public consultation closed on 7 January 2005. It expects to make a further statement in the second quarter of 2005. Another important development took place in January 2005 when COI Communications, the Government agency that provides advice to the public sector on matters related to communications, issued further guidance to Government contact centres on the use of non-geographic telephone numbers. In particular, this guidance stresses that 0870 numbers are not recommended as these have become expensive to the caller relative to a geographic call, which can act as a barrier to communicating information.
About 300 (3 per cent) of the 9,000 or so NHS surgeries in England have been using revenue sharing numbers, mostly 0870. The Department of Health has allowed NHS surgeries to use such numbers so that they can recover their expenditure in respect of telecommunications equipment, notably rental and service costs. This reflects its policy that, except for emergencies, the public should use their own resources to access the NHS. Having become aware that 0870 numbers were likely to provide individual NHS surgeries with a level of revenue in excess of costs, the Department sought to make changes that should result in a closer alignment. But the Department is mindful of the wider developments that are taking place in respect of revenue sharing numbers, and intends to revisit their use by NHS surgeries once Ofcom's work has been concluded later in 2005.
My colleagues responsible for health issues are keeping this area under review. My own team has been keeping the general issue of non-geographic numbers under examination and will continue to monitor Ofcom's initiative as part of our ongoing review of developments in the telecommunications market.
Thank you again for raised this matter with us.
Ed Humpherson
Director, Regulation Value for Money
Ed.Humpherson@nao.gsi.gov.uk 
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