The Public Accounts Committee is investigating customer service phone lines across Government.

There is a meeting this afternoon at 15:15 which can be viewed on Parliament TV. It will be available for viewing live and for playback afterwards.

Witnesses in attendance will be:

• Ruth Owen, Director General Personal Tax, HM Revenue & Customs
• Richard Heaton, Permanent Secretary, Cabinet Office
• Robert Devereux, Permanent Secretary, Department for Work and Pensions

We wait to hear what justification DWP will give as to its continuance of charging service users by use of 0845 numbers or whether it will follow HMRC's footsteps by replacing them with 03 numbers.

Margaret Hodge MP chairing the Committee said twice that Government Departments using 0845 and 0844 numbers are "a racket!"  --  repeated twice.

Heaton said it would take 6 to 8 weeks for a new Government policy on phone numbers to be produced.    Margaret Hodge was somewhat sceptical given that 03 numbers have been available for more than 7 years and the Varley report advocated their use by Government in 2006!!!

Hodge MP stressed that private companies, such as SERCO, providing public services should also be subject to the policy on 03 numbers.