Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she plans to introduce legislation that will prohibit the sale of telecare devices that are incompatible with VoIP.

The Government is committed to ensuring the safety of telecare users in the transition from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to digital phonelines. The Department has been engaging with the telecare industry to raise awareness of the PSTN migration, and to encourage telecare suppliers to offer digitally compatible telecare equipment. The Department is not currently pursuing legislative routes for prohibiting the sale of telecare devices that are incompatible with Voice over Internet Protocol.