Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on charging for calls from mobile telephones to the police non-emergency number 101.

The police non-emergency number has a one off 15 pence charge from a mobile phone. The public have always paid to contact the police for non-emergencies and the 15 pence per call charge is a competitive and transparent rate, especially when compared to previous police non-emergency numbers (such as 0845 numbers) which could cost up to 40 pence per minute.

Police forces and the Government do not make money from calls to 101. The 15 pence per call charge goes directly to telephony providers and covers the cost of handling calls and routing calls to destinations.