§ Viscount Tenbyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in order to facilitate postal deliveries, they will encourage British Telecom to include postal codes in their telephone directory. [HL416]
§ The Minister of State, Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Clinton-Davis)The regulation of directory enquiries is a matter for Oftel. I am advised by Oftel that there is no legal requirement on BT under its licence to provide printed telephone directories. The only licence obligation that BT has is that where it publishes and makes available directories to its customers generally, it is obliged to make these directories available on written request to any person in the United Kingdom. It is therefore not possible for Oftel to instruct BT to provide post codes in its telephone directories. It is a commercial matter for BT to decide whether or not it includes post codes in its printed directories. I understand that the Post Office has its own telephone helpline for customers who have queries about postal codes. The Government have no plans to encourage BT to include postal codes in its telephone directories.