Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, under what timetable her Department plans to phase-out the 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 use of telephone lines with the prefix 0843, 0844 and 0845 will be phased out in accordance with the Cabinet Office guidance on customer service lines both where these have been the primary number or have been temporarily retained as secondary number behind a new 03 number.

The Home Office and Her Majesty's Passport Office operates no 0843/0844 numbers.

The Home Office's 0845 Nationality Contact / European Enquiry Line and Asylum support line has been migrated to 0300 prefix in March 2014. The original 0845 number will be fully decommissioned by 31 December 2014.

Her Majesty's Passport Office 0845 number for Customer letters migrated to 0300 prefix on 1 September 2014. The original 0845 number will be fully decommissioned by 31 December 2014.