Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, under what timetable his Department plans to phase out use of telephone lines with the prefix (a) 0845, 0844 and 0843 in accordance with the Cabinet Office guidance on customer service lines published in December 2013 and (b) 03 and 08, where 03 is the primary number under a dual numbering system.

The Ministry of Justice is making good progress towards phasing out telephone lines with the prefix (a) 0845, 0844 and 0843 in accordance with the Cabinet Office guidance on customer lines published in December 2013 and (b) 03 and 08, where 03 is the primary number under a dual numbering system. The Department is widening engagement across the business to ensure a comprehensive solution within the Cabinet Office timelines, which allow until November 2014 for implementation.

Further to my answer to the Hon. Member’s parliamentary question of 23 June 2014 (HC Deb, 23 June 2014, c11W), the Department has recently ordered the cancellation of 16 of the higher-rate numbers in the County Court Business Centre (CCBC) in Northampton, reducing the overall total of higher-rate numbers operated by the Department from 34 to 18.