§ Mr. LazarowiczTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to his Answer of 25 February 2003,Official Report, columns 447–8W, on telephone helplines, how marry calls were made to each helpline charged at national rate in the last year for which records are available; and what the average duration was of these calls. [105890]
§ Dr. MoonieIn my Answer of 25 February, I referred to seven telephone helplines that were charged at the national rate. Of these, three do not record information on the number or duration of calls received. Information relating to the other four is as follows:
MOD Public Enquiry Office (0870 607 4455)—during the calendar year 2002 51,174 calls were received, with an average duration of 94 seconds;
Welsh Language Public Enquiry Office (01554 821 413)—during the calendar year 2002 only four calls were received. The estimated average duration of these calls was 60 seconds;
Gulf Veterans Advice Unit (020 7395 2375)—full records are not kept, but the average number of calls during 2002 was in the region of six a month. The number is an answer machine, which asks callers to leave their details so that their call can be returned at a later date. It also directs callers to the freephone number 0800 1694495.
Defence Vetting Agency helpline (01904 662 644)—for the year from March 2002 to February 2003 the helpline received a total of 81,925 calls. On average, these calls lasted 122 seconds.