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65115

registered interest
date	01/07/2014
answering body	Department for Culture Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Direct Selling
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to limit the number of nuisance telephone calls being received by members of the public.
tabling member constituency	Ribble Valley
tabling member printed	Mr Nigel Evans
uin	203497
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/07/2014 answer text <p>Tackling nuisance calls is a priority issue for the Department and we are pursuing a range of options for reform, which consists of both legislative and non-legislative measures. We believe these will help in our efforts to make a significant difference in our fight against such calls. On 30th March 2014, we published our Nuisance Calls Action Plan that set out proposals including legislation, which will enable Ofcom to share information more easily with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). The Order was debated in the House on 26 June and approved, which will become effective shortly after it is made. Also, we will shortly consult to lower the legal threshold, which will better enable ICO to take enforcement action against organisations that breach the rules, including those that currently manage to avoid penalties being issued to them. Further details about our Action Plan can be viewed at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nuisance-calls-action-plan-unveiled" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nuisance-calls-action-plan-unveiled</a></p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed Mr Edward Vaizey question first answered 07/07/2014 15:44:35 answering member 1580 label Biography information for Lord Vaizey of Didcot
tabling member	474 label Biography information for Mr Nigel Evans

62859

registered interest
date	19/06/2014
answering body	Department for Culture Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Direct Selling
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department has taken to tackle unsolicited marketing telephone calls originating from outside the UK.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	201555
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2014 answer text <p>Unsolicited marketing calls originating from outside the United Kingdom (UK) made by or on behalf of UK companies are legally required not to call a number that is registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), which is provided under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) 2003. Protection is also provided under the PECR if consumers have previously notified the caller that they do not wish to receive such calls and for automated recorded messages calls, which require prior consent. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) considers complaints and can issue a monetary penalty of up to £500,000. Calls made from abroad by overseas companies fall outside the jurisdiction of the UK.</p><p>Also, there are various steps that consumers can take to block nuisance calls from getting through to them. Most telecom service providers offer a range of services, usually for a small charge or for free, that can help to reduce the need to answer such calls. These include ‘Calling Line Identification Display', ‘Anonymous Call Rejection' and ‘Choose to Refuse'. BT's ‘Choose to Refuse' service allows consumers to block numbers by specifying numbers that they do not want to receive calls from. Also, 'Caller Display' enables a consumer to choose to ignore calls including those that withhold their number and ‘Anonymous Call Rejection' blocks incoming calls that withhold their number; although this may include some calls that consumers may want to receive. Additionally, telephone handsets and plug in devices are commercially available from the internet and high shops that can help to block unwanted nuisance calls.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed Mr Edward Vaizey question first answered 26/06/2014 15:10:06 answering member 1580 label Biography information for Lord Vaizey of Didcot
tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

62862

registered interest
date	19/06/2014
answering body	Department for Culture Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Direct Selling
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many companies were fined more than once for making nuisance calls by (a) the Information Commissioner's Office and (b) Ofcom in each of the last three years.
tabling member constituency	Colne Valley
tabling member printed	Jason McCartney
uin	201463
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2014 answer text <p>The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and the Office of Communications (Ofcom) have issued monetary penalties totalling more than £1.9 million since January 2012 for nuisance calls, however no company has been issued with a monetary penalty more than once by either ICO or Ofcom for making nuisance calls.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed Mr Edward Vaizey question first answered 26/06/2014 15:10:56 answering member 1580 label Biography information for Lord Vaizey of Didcot
tabling member	3953 label Biography information for Jason McCartney

62863

registered interest
date	19/06/2014
answering body	Department for Culture Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Direct Selling
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many companies were fined for making nuisance calls by (a) the Information Commissioner's Office and (b) Ofcom in each of the last three years.
tabling member constituency	Colne Valley
tabling member printed	Jason McCartney
uin	201464
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/06/2014 answer text <p>The number of monetary penalties issued for making nuisance calls by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and the Office of Communications (Ofcom) in each of the last three years is set out in the table below. Also, both the ICO and Ofcom take informal enforcement action to ensure that companies about whom they have concerns are brought into compliance more quickly. From January 2013 - June 2014, ICO engaged with over 20 organisations, which were responsible for making nuisance calls and as a result recorded substantial reductions in complaints for five of these organisations. Ofcom's informal action against 25 organisations making silent and abandoned phone calls has resulted in complaints linked to the telephone numbers used by 22 of those organisations stopping or reducing significantly, while three cases are ongoing. The power to issue monetary penalties of £500,000 for ICO came into force in January 2012, whilst Ofcom's power to issue a monetary penalty of £2 million became effective in October 2010.</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Year</p></td><td><p>2011</p></td><td><p>2012</p></td><td><p>2013</p></td><td><p>Total</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>ICO*</p></td><td><p>-</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>3</p></td><td><p>£360,000</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Ofcom</p></td><td><p>-</p></td><td><p>2</p></td><td><p>1</p></td><td><p>£1,560,000</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p><p>*ICO has also issued monetary penalties to two companies for SMS spam text messages in 2012 and 2013</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed Mr Edward Vaizey question first answered 26/06/2014 15:11:48 answering member 1580 label Biography information for Lord Vaizey of Didcot
tabling member	3953 label Biography information for Jason McCartney

62864

registered interest
date	19/06/2014
answering body	Department for Culture Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Direct Selling
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to increase the penalties available for repeat offenders against the law relating to nuisance calls.
tabling member constituency	Colne Valley
tabling member printed	Jason McCartney
uin	201465
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/07/2014 answer text <p>Further legislation is not necessary, as both the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) and the Office of Communications (Ofcom) can issue substantive monetary penalties of up to £500,000 and £2 million respectively to any organisation that deliberately continues to contravene the regulations.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed Mr Edward Vaizey question first answered 03/07/2014 15:55:47 answering member 1580 label Biography information for Lord Vaizey of Didcot
tabling member	3953 label Biography information for Jason McCartney

62365

registered interest
date	17/06/2014
answering body	Department for Culture Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Direct Selling
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the effect of fines imposed by the Information Commissioner's Office on reducing nuisance calls and texts.
tabling member constituency	Paisley and Renfrewshire North
tabling member printed	Jim Sheridan
uin	200984
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/06/2014 answer text <p>No such assessment has been made, but we are aware that after ICO issued a large monetary penalty in November 2012 for spam text messages, the monitoring service Cloudmark reported a 10% drop in unsolicited spam SMS text messages. We remain keen to ensure robust enforcement of the regulations, so that companies breaking the rules are caught and penalised.</p><p>OurNuisance Calls Action Plan that was published on 30th March 2014, details the range of legislative and non-legislative measures being taken forward to tackle nuisance calls and texts and the plan can be viewed at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nuisance-calls-action-plan-unveiled" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/nuisance-calls-action-plan-unveiled</a></p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed Mr Edward Vaizey question first answered 24/06/2014 09:56:09 answering member 1580 label Biography information for Lord Vaizey of Didcot
tabling member	1464 label Biography information for Jim Sheridan

61600

registered interest
date	12/06/2014
answering body	Department for Culture Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Direct Selling
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when his Department plans to publish draft legislation to amend the legal threshold from substantial damage and distress to nuisance, annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety for the International Commissioner's Office to take enforcement action from substantial damage or distress under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003; and when he expects that legislation to be in force.
tabling member constituency	Edinburgh West
tabling member printed	Mike Crockart
uin	200590
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2014 answer text <p>We plan to publish a consultation document shortly, which will seek views on proposals to lower the legal threshold for enforcement of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) 2003. Following consultation we will look to implement any reforms as soon as parliamentary time allows.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed Mr Edward Vaizey question first answered 19/06/2014 08:41:52 answering member 1580 label Biography information for Lord Vaizey of Didcot
tabling member	3967 label Biography information for Mike Crockart

61614

registered interest
date	12/06/2014
answering body	Department for Culture Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Direct Selling
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, when the roundtables on nuisance calls and texts met; and when the next roundtable will meet.
tabling member constituency	Edinburgh West
tabling member printed	Mike Crockart
uin	200416
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/06/2014 answer text <p>The roundtable on nuisance calls and texts last met on 23 September 2013 and since then we have worked with stakeholders to finalise our Nuisance Calls Action Plan, which was published on 30 March of this year. The next roundtable meeting is being arranged and will be confirmed soon subject to diary commitments.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed Mr Edward Vaizey question first answered 19/06/2014 08:46:27 answering member 1580 label Biography information for Lord Vaizey of Didcot
tabling member	3967 label Biography information for Mike Crockart