Peer attacks phone line profits

The government has come under fire for failing to stop departments profiting from 0870 telephone numbers.

Research by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Tyler revealed that government ministries and agencies had made more than £6m from the “non-geographic” lines since 2004.

The practice is more expensive for consumers than the national or local rates the lines are advertised as.

Profits included £3.73m from calls to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency in Swansea and a further £1.82m for calls to book driving tests with the Driving Standards Agency.

The money was made despite the practice being discouraged by guidance from the government’s own Central Office of Information.

Parliamentary answers given to the peer also revealed that some departments had been failing to take up the “revenue share” option included in the contracts with the private phone line operators.

Lord Tyler said: “This is a diabolical tale of incompetent departments swindling citizens, who are entitled to free information, against the specific advice of the government’s own COI.

“It is now more than two years since I first raised this issue in Parliament, and I have received repeated reassurances that ministers will sort their departments out and follow the government’s own guidelines.

“Instead, we find that of the departments that can actually account for the revenue, some six million has been raked into government coffers through taxpayers’ telephone lines in just two years.

“The figure could be larger still were it not for the considerable number of departments who think it is better to let their share of the revenue go to a private company.”

We all use an 0870 number to book driving tests so what are your thoughts on this?