§ 2. Mr. Leslie Huckfieldasked the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications whether he will give a general direction to the Post Office Corporation to publicise as widely as possible aids available under its auspices to assist quicker telephone dialling.
§ Sir J. EdenNo, Sir. The scale of publicity is for the Post Office to decide, and it assures me that suitable publicity is already given to these aids.
§ Mr. HuckfieldDoes the right hon. Gentleman appreciate that the failure rate of local calls in certain London exchanges is as bad as the STD failure rate and that all we are getting is snap, crackle and pop? Since this involves dialling one, two, three, four and even five times, the Post Office should do something to advertise to the general public the quicker dialling aids which are available under its own auspices.
§ Sir J. EdenThis is a matter for the Post Office. It is very much alive to the need to ensure improved dialling but, as the hon. Gentleman himself well knows, even the speeding up of dialling is not itself the complete answer, because the introduction of new aids also depends 1292 on the standard of exchange equipment available.