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1506868

registered interest
date	20/09/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Nuisance Calls
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of (a) the Telephone Preference Service and (b) the powers of the Information Commissioner's Office to make directors liable for the fines imposed on their companies, in the context of helping to tackle nuisance calls.
tabling member constituency	Bosworth
tabling member printed	Dr Luke Evans
uin	52012
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/09/2022 answer text <p>The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) continues to provide an important free service for people and businesses who wish to opt out of receiving unsolicited live sales and marketing calls. Anyone who wishes to add their landline or mobile number to the TPS database can do so by visiting tpsonline.org.uk. Once a number has been registered, direct marketing organisations are legally required under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) to refrain from calling it.</p><p>The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) enforces the law and has powers to fine persons that break it. In 2021/22, the ICO issued over £2.8 million in fines issued to companies responsible for nuisance calls, texts and emails.</p><p>The ICO are currently considering responses to their consultation on new regulatory guidance on the use of their enforcement powers under PECR. This includes consideration of the circumstances where it would be appropriate to fine organisations or individual directors; and the factors the ICO would take into account when setting the level of a monetary penalty. The draft guidance can be viewed on the <a href="https://ico.org.uk/media/about-the-ico/consultations/4019214/statutory-guidance-on-our-pecr-powers-2021-for-consultation.pdf" target="_blank">ICO’s website</a>.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 27/09/2022 09:53:49 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4781 label Biography information for Dr Luke Evans

1484643

registered interest
date	29/06/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Nuisance Calls
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to combat unsolicited and nuisance calls.
tabling member constituency	Wycombe
tabling member printed	Mr Steve Baker
uin	27587
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/07/2022 answer text <p>The Government is fully aware that unsolicited direct marketing calls, known as nuisance calls, can cause anxiety and distress, particularly for the most vulnerable people in our society.</p><p>Companies that send direct marketing communications are regulated by both the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (PECR) and the data protection legislation (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018). The PECR was designed to complement the data protection legislation and impose strict obligations on organisations that make direct marketing calls to individuals in the UK. The legislation is regulated and enforced by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).</p><p>The Government’s response to the consultation <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/data-a-new-direction/outcome/data-a-new-direction-government-response-to-consultation#:~:text=The%20government%20launched%20its%20consultation,the%20UK's%20National%20Data%20Strategy." target="_blank">Data: A New Direction</a> which proposed reforms to improve the UK’s data protection regime, including potential changes to the PECR, was published on the 17th June 2022.</p><p>The Government plans to introduce new legislation to allow the ICO to take enforcement action against organisations on the basis of the number of communications (calls, texts and emails) that they generate rather than just on the number that are connected. It will also require public communications service and network providers to inform the ICO of suspicious traffic transiting their networks when they have reasonable suspicion; and increase fines for direct marketing companies that continue to break the rules. In the future, this will mean that ICO could levy fines of up to £17.5m or 4% of a businesses’ global turnover for serious infringements of the Regulations, rather than the current maximum which is set at £500,000.</p><p>These measures will upgrade the PECR enforcement regime to make it more effective, proportionate and dissuasive.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 04/07/2022 13:06:12 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4064 label Biography information for Mr Steve Baker