idb wrote on Jan 15
th, 2009 at 1:26am:
House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 12 Jan 2009 (pt 0069)
Departmental Telephone Services
Mike Penning: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many telephone numbers for which callers are charged at the rate applicable to 0845 numbers are used by (a) his Department and (b) its Executive agencies for public access to services. [246982]
Angela Eagle: HM Treasury does not use 0845 numbers.
The UK Debt Management Office has 17 0845 telephone numbers that appear on its website and are therefore generally available for use by callers. Their purpose is business continuity-related.
This demonstrates a familiar trick used when giving written ministerial answers.
HM Revenue and Customs, with its host of 0845 numbers, is neither part of HM Treasury nor is it an Executive Agency.
Everybody knows what Mr Penning was after, but he has to phrase his question more carefully to get the answer that he wants.
Look out for similar tricks in other answers to this sort of question, and see how the clever questioner avoids them. There are many examples in this thread.
These written answer paperchases are not delivering the goods. We need an inquiry by the Public Administration Committee into the use of revenue sharing numbers by all public bodies accountable to parliament (including non-departmental bodies for which ministers are not directly accountable). This could collect all the data, hear the attempted justifications and produce a report recommending a wholesale adoption of 03 numbers (where non-geographic numbers are required). The government would be required to reply to such a report and it would provide a basis for putting pressure on each minister who fails to act.
Each Committee decides what it is to look into for itself. I would therefore urge all members to put pressure on members of this Committee and all concerned MPs, who could do the same.