HL Deb 31 July 1963 vol 252 cc1252-3WA
THE EARL OF HARROWBY

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they can revert to their earlier lay-out in all their telephone directories, of having "Radii Charges Maps", for one or possibly more towns in their area, and also of having the addresses of their local advisory committee, preferably under the address of the Manager, in view of the great public convenience which they served in both these cases.

LORD CHESHAM

Since "Radii Charges Maps" were last published in telephone directroies the system of group charging has been introduced. Under this system, which reduced the tariff for most subscribers, charges are based on the distance between groups of exchanges instead of between individual exchanges. There are also differences between the method of charging for dialled trunk calls and for trunk calls controlled by an operator. These changes would make modern versions of the maps very confusing and, with the rapid extension of S.T.D. now taking place, they would quickly become out of date. Details of charges from each exchange with the S.T.D. facility are included in the Dialling Code and Call Charges Booklet supplied to all subscribers, while a list of the charges from exchanges without S.T.D. can be obtained from telephone managers. My right honourable friend, the Postmaster General, believes that the information made available in these ways is more useful to subscribers than maps published in telephone directories.

There is a reference to local advisory committees in all main telephone directories, including a statement that the name and address of the Secretary can be obtained from the local head post office. This arrangement meets with the wishes of many advisory committees, and my right honourable friend, the Postmaster-General, would not wish to disturb it in those cases. But if any local advisory committee would like to have the name and address of the secretary published in the local directory, he would be glad to arrange for this to be done.