Call Centres (Hansard, 4 March 2004)

§ Mr. Hoyle
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on(a) call centres and (b) call centre jobs in (i) the North West and (ii) Lancashire. [157083]

§ Ms Hewitt
The Government is well aware of the heightened interest and concerns expressed about the offshoring of UK service operations, including call centre operations. My Department has commissioned research on the key factors contributing to the relative competitiveness of UK call centre operations to help identify any appropriate actions which need to be taken by industry or Government in response to the increasingly global market for call centre services. This will include an examination of the main product areas in the UK call and contact centre industry that are vulnerable to growing competition from lower-wage economies., which types of call and contract centre activity and which regions have been most affected or are most likely to be affected in the near future.
The North West Development Agency is working with the University of Central Lancashire and a wide range of other private and public sector partners on a new initiative, Call North West, in an aim to drive up the skills and productivity of the region's contact centres. Call North West will be formally launched on 24 March.

§ Mr. Hoyle
To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many jobs in(a) the north west and (b) Lancashire in call centres have relocated abroad in each of the last three years. [157084]

§ Ms Hewitt
Existing information does not enable us to provide reliable figures. Official statistics do not generally separate call centre activities from the main activity of a firm or enterprise (e.g. banking;). The term "call centre" can be used to describe a broad variety of functions and activities across a wide range of commercial, industrial and public sectors. Difficulties and differences in definition are reflected in commercial market research on call centres where estimates on the number of call centres and call centre employees vary substantially.