Margot James corrected a written answer on Nuisance Calls

20 March 2018 · Commons written answer · Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Alex Sobel (Labour, Leeds North West) asked written question 126489 on 5 February 2018. Margot James answered on 8 February 2018 for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and Margot James corrected the answer on 20 March 2018. The corrected text no longer gives the figure £1.7 billion. Altogether 209 words differ between the two versions.

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what his Department's policy is on a ban on phone companies charging a fee for services to protect against nuisance calls.

Original and corrected answer

Struck through: original only. Bold: correction only.

Original	Corrected
The Government ~~and local bodies together are investing £1.7 billion~~ of public money to support vital improvements in broadband services across the UK. Superfast broadband coverage reached 95% of premises in December 2017 – up from 45% in 2010. Many of the premises reached had exchange only lines. For any premises not covered by superfast broadband, as confirmed in our announcement in December 2017, we are pushing ahead with our plans for a Universal Service Obligation (USO) so that by 2020 everyone across the UK will have a clear, enforceable right to request 10 Megabit per second broadband. Within London the Government expects superfast broadband coverage to be provided by the private sector and is encouraging providers to tackle remaining issues including exchange only lines.	Consumers can register their landline and mobile telephone numbers with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), which helps prevent them receiving unsolicited nuisance marketing calls. The TPS is a free service and consumers can register at the following address: http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/number_type.html. In addition, phone companies provide consumers with a range of services to protect them against nuisance calls. It is for phone companies to decide whether to offer these services for free or for a charge. The Government welcomes services being provided free, or at low cost, for the benefit of consumers.

Original

Corrected

The Government ~~and local bodies together are investing £1.7 billion~~ of public money to support vital improvements in broadband services across the UK. Superfast broadband coverage reached 95% of premises in December 2017 – up from 45% in 2010. Many of the premises reached had exchange only lines.
For any premises not covered by superfast broadband, as confirmed in our announcement in December 2017, we are pushing ahead with our plans for a Universal Service Obligation (USO) so that by 2020 everyone across the UK will have a clear, enforceable right to request 10 Megabit per second broadband.
Within London the Government expects superfast broadband coverage to be provided by the private sector and is encouraging providers to tackle remaining issues including exchange only lines.

Consumers can register their landline and mobile telephone numbers with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), which helps prevent them receiving unsolicited nuisance marketing calls. The TPS is a free service and consumers can register at the following address: http://www.tpsonline.org.uk/tps/number_type.html.
In addition, phone companies provide consumers with a range of services to protect them against nuisance calls. It is for phone companies to decide whether to offer these services for free or for a charge. The Government welcomes services being provided free, or at low cost, for the benefit of consumers.

The question and answer on the Parliament website.

Receipt

Read from	https://questions-statements-api.parliament.uk/api/writtenquestions/questions/837370?expandMember=true
Date read	15 October 2026
SHA-256	`29cf0292ecf20c5dfd97e05f6a0b453180c37b868f56e830217b8b27c76a9b7e`