Dave wrote on Apr 6^th, 2009 at 10:38pm:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_mcnulty

Expenses controversy

In March 2009, he admitted claiming expenses on a second home, occupied by his parents, which was 8 miles away from his primary residence, after details appeared in the Mail on Sunday.[2] McNulty asserted that the claim was appropriate, but he has ceased claiming the allowances.

Top bloke.

Questions for Oral or Written Answer
beginning on Wednesday 1 April 2009
(the 'Questions Book')

Part 1: Written Questions for Answer on
Wednesday 1 April 2009

Martin Salter (Reading West): To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, what information his Department holds on the number of Government departments and agencies which require people to dial a premium rate number to contact them; what plans the Government has to replace such use of 0845 numbers with numbers that charge a local or national rate; and if he will make a statement.

Quote:


So in addition to fiddling his Parliamentary expenses the useless Tony McNulty is still claiming not to have heard of 03 numbers despite them now having existed for over 18 months and now being in widespread everyday use by UK councils and Police forces.

Dave wrote on Apr 7^th, 2009 at 11:34am:


Well actually as they make it compulsory to go to the JobCentre every two weeks to sign on to obtain a very meagre level of benefit they surely ought to pay travelling allowance to anyone who lives more than say a mile from the JobCentre.  Otherwise this is clearly unfair to people who live further away from the JobCentre.

Quote:


Well that should all take them about another five years to complete. By which time the minimum call charge for non bundled calls will no doubt be about £1 per call and the line rental have risen to about £20 per month so that all 084 and 087 numbers are bundled in it.

The Contact Council will then no doubt conclude there is no need to stop using 084/7 numbers.

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/s3/committees/publicaudit/reports-09/paur09-02...

Scottish Parliament
Public Audit Committee Report
SP Paper 196      PAU/S3/09/R2

2nd Report, 2009 (Session 3)

Police call management


30. Whilst consideration was being given to the development of a SNEN, a number of Scottish forces began a process of implementing 0845 numbers for people to use for non-emergency calls. Some work was also undertaken to investigate the possibility of police and local authorities sharing a non-emergency number. This included a review of a project in England and Wales that piloted the use of a 101 number for community safety and antisocial behaviour calls. However, the results of the pilot indicated that the use of this number did not reduce the number of calls to 999 and highlighted that there had previously been an unmet demand for information.

[…]

The development of a non-emergency number
36. The Committee was particularly keen to ascertain what work the Scottish Government was doing to coordinate the use of alternative numbers for non-999 situations. The Committee asked what estimates had been made of the costs of using alternative numbers, both to the forces and central government and to callers. The Committee also raised concerns regarding the use of 0845 numbers, which may be excluded from many phone operators’ inclusive call allowances, thereby raising accessibility implications for callers.

[…]

Oral evidence
39. Scottish Government officials updated the Committee on the forces’ consideration of 0845 numbers for non-emergency calls. Officials also noted that OFCOM is introducing a series of 03 numbers, as an alternative to chargeable 08 numbers. 03 numbers will cost the same as calls to geographic numbers (starting 01 or 02), and be included as part of any inclusive call minutes or discount schemes in the same way as geographic calls. Officials undertook to bring the issues raised by the committee about affordability to the attention of forces and local authorities. The Committee also received an update on the findings of the Home Office 101 project and officials noted that they were in discussion with the Home Office regarding the way forward in Scotland. The Committee noted that 0845 numbers were already in the process of being introduced by forces such as Lothian and Borders and Tayside.

[…]

46. In relation to the prospect of using an 03 or 0800 number, he drew attention to the marketing and re-branding costs that would be incurred given that the majority of Scottish forces have moved or will move to an 0845 number. He noted the extra cost of these options to forces and stated that there was a risk that the change would further confuse the public. In his view, since people rarely call the police and the average call length is only two and a half minutes, the cost of calling the police should not be a significant factor for those with mobile phones.

[…]

52. The Committee is also concerned that the use of 0845 numbers by individual forces has potential to increase the cost of calls to the public as many phone operators exclude these numbers from call allowances.

53. The Committee recommends that there should be a single non-emergency number in use across Scotland which should not be an 0845 or other premium rate number. The Committee calls on the Scottish Government to examine detailed proposals for the introduction of such a number.

[…]

03 or 0800 numbers
The Committee also asked about the use of 03 or 0800 numbers which could address concerns over the potential costs of calling the police from a mobile phone. Mobile phone tariffs are, of course, matters for the telephone companies.

Moving to an 03 or 0800 number would entail additional marketing and re-branding costs for the majority of forces which have already moved, or are in the process of, moving over to 0845 numbers. In addition, forces would bear some of the call charge with 03 numbers but all of it with 0800 (Free phone) numbers. Many forces have already carried out extensive work in marketing their 0845 numbers and consider there is a strong risk that another change would confuse the public in those areas.

Since most people will call the police only rarely and call lengths are generally short (on average two and a half minutes) we do not consider that the cost of calling the police should be a significant factor for those with mobile phones.

[…]

What can the Scottish Government do to drive such work forward at a faster pace?

As mentioned above, these are matters that are best handled by forces themselves. It remains for forces to make their own decisions on whether to adopt an 0845 number or move to an 03 number.

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Jun 4^th, 2009 at 2:45pm:

It appears that Mr Purnell has finally decided that he is unable to serve under a leader who regards certain behaviour as "totally unacceptable" when practised by some, but not by others. Can one assume that Mr Hoon may come to the same conclusion in time.

The Hansard references for yesterday are as follows.

Question from Alan Duncan - Column 392

Answer from Harriet Harman - Column 393

Watch this thread for comments on the new occupants of all relevant ministerial posts.