House of Commons Switchboard

HC Deb 10 February 1999 vol 325 cc222-3W

Mr. David Heath

To ask the Chairman of the Information Committee for what reason the House of Commons switchboard does not have available the fax numbers of Committees and Departments of the House. [69467]

Mr. Allan

Action has recently been taken to ensure that the information available to the House of Commons switchboard is consistent with the contents of the internal Parliamentary Phone Directory. However, entries in that directory are determined by the wishes of Members, Departments and Committees and therefore are not necessarily comprehensive.

It has also been a long-standing policy that the switchboard will reveal telephone numbers to external callers only if expressly permitted to do so by the owner. This complements the restricted circulation of the Parliamentary Phone Directory.

If Departments and Committees wish their fax numbers to be listed and to be made available to external callers, there is no obstacle to doing so.