Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of the 55p per minute cost of the telephone helpline established to provide advice on how to use online court services on the effectiveness of that helpline.

HMCTS helplines use 0300 phone numbers in line with HMG guidance for government departments. This is the same as other departments including HMRC and the Home Office, as well as a range of bodies outside Government including the BBC, the RSPCA, Oxfam and Ofcom.

Calls to 0300 numbers are charged at the same as local rate calls by phone providers.

The helplines are not premium lines and do not generate revenue.

There is no evidence to suggest that call charges are deterring people from using our services, as we dealt with more than 46,000 calls last month alone.