§ Mr. MichaelTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) if he will meet the Director General of Telecommunications to discuss the priority to be given to the protection of the public and the consumer when controls are set for telephone chat-lines;
(2) whether he will introduce legislation to require that access to chat-lines and other premium charge telephone calls shall be subject to a fail-safe mechanism, such as connection via an operator, in order to ensure that accidental connection to high-cost calls is ruled out.
§ Mr. Forth[holding answer 24 November 1989]: On 17 November, the Director General of 93W Telecommunications, Sir Bryan Carsberg, announced new controls on multiline and one-to-one services provided over British Telecom's network. From 8 December, when the controls come into effect, such services can be provided only in accordance with a code of practice acceptable to the Director General or if granted a specific exemption. No such codes have yet been recognised for these purposes.
In the light of this announcement, I have no intention of meeting the Director General or of considering the introduction of legislation on this subject.