§ Mr. LetwinTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress he has made towards the creation of a 311 number for the reporting of public order and vandalism-related incidents other than emergencies. [101615]
§ Mr. Bob Ainsworth[holding answer 7 March 2003]Following a feasibility study into the provision of a dedicated national number for contacting the police on non-emergency matters, we have decided to take this work forward within the wider context of establishing national call-handling standards for the police service. This will focus not only on call routing, but more importantly on call resolution. The development of a Single Non-Emergency Number will form an important strand of this work.
A shared non-emergency number concept demonstrator to be tested in three connecting force areas is currently being planned.