Chloe Smith welcomes crack down on nuisance calls, continues campaign

Member of Parliament for Norwich North, Chloe Smith, today welcomed the tough new measures announced by Government to stop the blight of nuisance calls that have affected some of her constituents.

 

Consumers plagued by nuisance calls and texts will benefit from the Government changes to the law, which will make it easier for those firms responsible to be hit with fines of up to £500,000.

 

The law currently requires the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) to prove a company caused ‘substantial damage or substantial distress’ by their conduct before action can be taken. Following a six-week public consultation, the Government is now removing this legal threshold, giving the ICO the power to intervene in more cases. This change will come into effect from 6 April 2015.

 

The Government also confirmed it will look at introducing measures to hold board level executives responsible for nuisance calls and texts. This follows a report from the Which?-led taskforce last December, which called for a review of the rules in order to act as a stronger deterrent to rogue companies.

 

Chloe has recently helped a number of constituents who had suffered nuisance calls, raising an example in Parliament which included foul language.

 

The consumer group, Which? recently published data that shows:

 

• Around four out of five people surveyed said they are regularly cold-called at home, with a third of them left feeling intimidated.
• There were 15,642 complaints related to nuisance calls and texts made to the ICO in November 2014 (the month before the report). 
• In total there were over 175,000 complaints related to nuisance calls and texts made to the ICO for 2014.

 

Chloe commented:

 

“It is simply not acceptable to bombard people with unwanted marketing calls. For far too long, these companies escaped punishment because it was thought they did not cause enough harm. The stories I have heard from constituents tell a different story, with some elderly and vulnerable residents feeling threatened.

 

“This change will make it easier for the Information Commissioner’s Office to take tough action against offenders and send a clear message to others that harassing consumers with nuisance calls or texts is just not on.

 

“I've already helped constituents on this topic so if you have been affected by nuisance calls, please get in touch."