House of Commons Hansard Debates for 12 Jan 2010 (pt 0002)

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmhansrd/cm100112/debtext/1001...

GP Telephone Numbers

9. Mr. Laurence Robertson (Tewkesbury) (Con): What recent guidance his Department has issued to GP practices on their use of 0844 telephone number systems; and if he will make a statement. [310024]

The Minister of State, Department of Health (Mr. Mike O'Brien): The Department issued guidance and directions to the NHS in England on 21 December, just before Christmas, that patients should not be expected to pay more than the cost of a local call to contact the NHS, including doctors' surgeries. GPs will have this year to end the practice completely and get out of any contracts that cause that to happen.

Mr. Robertson: I thank the Minister for that response, but he will be aware that the practice is continuing. He says that it must end this year, but there is an awful lot of this year left, so when does he expect the practice to end? Not only does it make it expensive for people to call their local general practitioner, but older people in particular often prefer a human being to answer the phone, rather than be responded to by a machine.

Mr. O'Brien: I agree that we need to ensure that this practice of some GPs charging more than a local rate for contact ends as quickly as possible. We have made it absolutely clear to GPs that they must get out of these contracts-a number of practices have signed up to and are legally bound by them-and they have the year to do so. We have engaged with some of the companies involved and, to be fair to them, they have said they are prepared to negotiate equitable arrangements with the GPs to see whether we can get them all out of this as soon as possible. They have all got to be out by 21 December, but we want them to be out now, or as soon as they possibly can be.

Mike Penning (Hemel Hempstead) (Con): This situation is not just in the hands of GPs; the provider that the patient is using is also ripping them off. For instance, when someone phones a GP's surgery on an 0845 number from a call box, the charges will be over the top, and people will still be charged even on the new 0300 numbers. Will the Minister examine why these patients are still being ripped off by their providers, as well as by GPs?

Mr. O'Brien: Our objective is to ensure that anyone trying to contact the NHS locally pays a local rate, and we need to ensure that such practice is adopted. If the hon. Gentleman has evidence to suggest that particular issues are arising, I would be happy to discuss them with him.

Dave wrote on Jan 10^th, 2010 at 1:27pm:

The Social Security Advisory Committee Occasional Paper Number 7, published September 2009 is here:

http://www.ssac.org.uk/pdf/occasional/SSAC-telephony-paper.pdf

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2010-09-08b.13660.h&s=0845+number#g13660...

Caroline Lucas (Brighton, Pavilion, Green)

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the geographic direct dial phone number for the Jobcentre Plus area benefits office at James Watt Way, Crawley is; and what estimate he has made of the annual cost to benefit claimants of directing them to use 0845 phone numbers to contact area benefit offices.

Steve Webb (Minister of State (Pensions), Work and Pensions; Thornbury and Yate, Liberal Democrat)

The administration of Jobcentre Plus is a matter for the chief executive of Jobcentre Plus, Darra Singh. I have asked him to provide the hon. Member with the information requested.

Mr Singh's response includes the following:
Quote:

This is a clear admission that Jobcentre Plus offsets its costs on callers (referred to as "customers").

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http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2010-09-27a.543.0&s=0845+number#g543.2

Lord Beecham (Labour)

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to charge calls to Jobcentre Plus at a local, rather than premium, rate; and what income is derived from the current practice.

Lord Freud (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Welfare Reform), Work and Pensions; Conservative)

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) does not currently have any plans to use local geographic telephone numbers and does not use premium rate numbers for its services. The DWP strives to achieve the right balance between meeting customer needs and using taxpayers' money effectively.

The DWP policy is that all calls should be free to our 0800 numbers to claim for benefits and emergency payments. The department's 0845 numbers are not part of this policy because they are for inquiries that typically take less time to resolve. These calls are charged at the standard rate for landlines and mobile phones, although costs can vary between different operators and contracts.

Where a customer raises a concern over the cost of the call or asks, we will offer to call them back. Alternatively, we also provide customer access phones in a large number of our Jobcentre Plus offices. This enables customers to make benefit or job search enquiries without incurring telephone costs. Customers who have access to a computer can also use online facilities as an alternative to calling our 0800 and 0845 services.

It is free to call DWP 0800 numbers from BT landlines and agreements are in place to ensure that it is free to call via nine of the UK's largest mobile phone operators, representing 95 per cent of the mobile market. We are continuing to work with the remaining mobile phone providers to negotiate free calls to DWP 0800 numbers.

The department does not receive any revenue from telephone service providers.