§ Siobhain McDonaghTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many calls were made to the new helpline for smokers between 10 December 1999 and 11 February 2000. [113837]
§ Yvette Cooper70,480 calls were answered by the frontscreen service in the specified period. This includes hang-ups, hoaxes and trials, but does not include short-calls lost in the British Telecom system.
§ Siobhain McDonaghTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what has been the total expenditure on advertising the new helpline for smokers in the current year. [113838]
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§ Yvette CooperThe total sum of advertising spend on the new tobacco education campaign for the period 10 December 1999–31 March 2000 inclusive was £5,485,000. The breakdown is as follows:
£ Ambient media 141,000 Billboards 1,242,000 TV 3,190,000 Press 397,000 Radio 515,000 The aim of the new campaign is to increase the intention to give up, provide support and encouragement for those who want to give up by communicating that many smokers want to give up and that they are not alone; that giving up is an ongoing and difficult process and that individual support is available in local areas and through the helpline.
§ Siobhain McDonaghTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of calls to the new helpline for smokers were answered by an automated system (IVR) during the period 10 December 1999 and 11 February 2000. [113839]
§ Yvette CooperDuring the specified period 40 per cent. of calls were answered by the IVR system and 60 per cent. were answered by live operators.
During the exceptional Millennium period (27 December 1999 to 3 January 2000) 58 per cent. of calls went to IVR and the rest to live operators.
If these exceptionally high figures for the Millennium period are taken out of the totals the proportion of IVR to live would be 26 per cent. IVR to 74 per cent. live for 10 December 1999 to 11 February 2000.
§ Mr. BarronTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total expenditure was on advertising the new helpline for smokers, between 10 December 1999 and the end of March 2000; and what the expenditure on the Quitline was for the equivalent period in the previous year. [115395]
§ Yvette CooperThe total sum of advertising spend on the new tobacco education campaign for the period 10 December 1999 and up until the end of March 2000 is £5,485,000. The breakdown is as follows:
£ Ambient media1 141,000 Billboards 1,242,000 TV 3,190,000 Press 397,000 Radio 515,000 1 The term Ambient media is defined as non-traditional, outdoor media. The total advertising spend for 1998–99 was £2,720,000, most of the campaign activity being concentrated in the December 1998 to February 1999 period.
The aim of the new campaign is to increase the intention to give up, provide support and encouragement for those who want to give up by communicating that many smokers want to give up and that they are not alone; 337W that giving up is an on-going and difficult process and that individual support is available in local areas and through the helpline.
§ Mr. BarronTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of calls to the new helpline for smokers were answered by an automated system (IVR) during the period 10 December 1999 to 11 March 2000 inclusive; and what was the proportion for calls to Quitline for the equivalent period in the previous year. [115394]
§ Yvette Cooper35 per cent. of calls were answered by the IVR system in the specified period. The proportion of calls reaching the automated Quitline service in the equivalent period in 1998–99 was 26 per cent.
If the exceptionally high figures for the Millennium period (27 December 1999 to 3 January 2000) are taken out of the totals the proportion of calls answered by IVR was 22 per cent.
§ Mr. BarronTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many calls were made to the new helpline for smokers, between 10 December 1999 and 11 March 2000 inclusive; and how many calls were made to the Quitline, in the same period for the previous year. [115396]
§ Yvette CooperThe 1999–2000 campaign was designed to motivate smokers towards a range of cessation options such as 'going it alone', seeking advice from a general practitioner or pharmacist or visiting a local cessation service, as well as telephoning the helpline or visiting the new campaign website.
Calls to the helplines funded by the Department were as follows:
- 10 December 1999 to 11 March 2000
- 0800 169 0 169: 83,451 (calls answered)
- 0800 00 22 00: 75,431 (calls answered)
- Total: 158,882.
In addition, there were 231,891 hits to the website in that period.
- 10 December 1998 to 11 March 1999
- 175,827 calls were made to Quitline: 0800 00 22 00.