HL Deb 01 February 1999 vol 596 c178WA
Lord McConnell

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Why nuisance callers on the telephone are allowed to prevent their telephone numbers from being disclosed by automatic ringback services. [HL526]

Lord Sainsbury of Turville

The regulation of telecoms operators is a matter for Oftel. The Government and Oftel considered the importance of being able to trace nuisance calls carefully before the launch of the Calling Line Identification (CLI) service in 1994. The possibility of barring CLI (by dialling 141 before the number) was introduced for those people who do not wish to have their number released for legitimate reasons, which may relate to the protection of their privacy, and which may be personal. However, in order to protect customers against nuisance callers who withhold their CLI, the police do have the ability to trace nuisance calls, by formally requesting the details from the telecoms operator from whose network the calls were made.