§ Mr. StephenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will bring forward proposals to ban sex lines from the public telephone system.
§ Mr. LeighI have been asked to reply.
There is an effective system of regulatory control of these services; they are obliged to operate under a code of practice drawn up and monitored by the independent committee for the supervision of standards in telephone information services (ICSTIS). The code sets detailed conditions for the content, conditions of access and advertising of the services.
Telephone subscribers also have the opportunity to request call barring, which makes it impossible to call the services from their line. BT provides this facility free of charge.