NEW calls have been made for senior executives to be made personally accountable for nuisance calls, as new research found nearly nine in 10 Scots support that.
Angus South MSP Graeme Dey is hosting a cross-party Parliamentary event in the Scottish Parliament between 1 and 2pm on Thursday to raise awareness about the Which? campaign demanding action on the problem of nuisance calls. The informal drop-in event which will be held in one of the committee rooms, is aimed at supporting moves for more action.
The Which? research found that nearly nine in 10 (85%) want the Scottish Government to crackdown on nuisance calls and a similar number (87%) want the Westminster Government to take action.
The research in Scotland found nine in 10 (90%) people want to see the director of a company held personally accountable and fined if the firm makes calls without the necessary permission.
Which? is now calling on the Scottish Government to take the lead by setting out plans to tackle nuisance calls.
Which? executive director, Richard Lloyd, said: “With the vast majority of Scots wanting action to tackle nuisance calls, it is clear efforts must be re-doubled to crackdown on this modern menace.
“The Scottish Government should lead the way by setting out how it plans to fight back against nuisance callers and Scottish businesses should make senior executives take responsibility if their firm makes unlawful calls.”
The consumer group launched a Calling Time on Nuisance Calls campaign in Scotland in December, supported by more than 19,000 people, urging the Scottish Government to publish an action plan setting out how it will work with business and regulators to tackle nuisance calls.
It wants a crackdown on businesses breaking the rules and holding senior executives to account and help for vulnerable people to cut the number of nuisance calls they receive.
Perth-based energy giants SSE were the first major firm to back the campaign.
They put a stop to cold calling in 2013 and announced that a senior director will be held responsible if the company breach their pledge.
The Information Commissioner's Office has received more than 170,000 complaints about nuisance calls in 2015, up from 160,000 two years earlier.
Fines by ICO against nuisance call firms have increased by more than three times this year.
The watchdog imposed fines of £1.14m for nuisance calls and texts compared with £330,000 of penalties in 2014.
It comes after a change to the law in April made it easier to penalise firms.
The biggest fines were for companies selling pharmaceuticals, call blocking services and payment protection insurance (PPI) compensation.
From April, the ICO only had to demonstrate calls and messages were a "nuisance" rather than the cause of "serious damage and distress".
Cambuslang-based green energy advisers Home Energy & Lifestyle Management Ltd (HELM), was fined a then record £200,000 in September by the UK information rights commissioner after the regulator said the firm made people's lives a misery" by making six million nuisance cold calls over three months.
Two firms selling call blocking services, Cold Call Eliminations and Point One Marketing, were fined £75,000 and £50,000 respectively.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Nuisance calls and texts can cause significant distress, particularly for older and vulnerable people, and it is unacceptable for anyone to feel intimidated by them.
“The regulation of nuisance calls and texts is reserved to Westminster. We welcome the contribution that Which? has made to highlighting this important issue and believe the regulation of nuisance calls and texts is needlessly fragmented. Much more needs to be done to make regulation and enforcement work more effectively for consumers and, where appropriate, we are working with the UK Government to make that happen.
“New powers being devolved to Scotland will allow us to create a more integrated consumer protection regime that puts the consumer first, taking Scotland-specific issues into account in a way that the current fragmented arrangements fail to do.”
Last week the UK government launched a consultation on plans to make it a legal requirement for anyone making calls for the purposes of direct marketing, including charities, to display their telephone number on caller ID.
The Department for Culture, Media & Sport is proposing an amendment of the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, by means of secondary legislation, so that direct marketers would have to provide valid "calling line identification" when they make calls. The DCMS said that this would deal with the nation’s "scourge" of nuisance calls.
A DCMS spokesman said: "Tackling nuisance calls is a Government priority. Companies are already being financially punished when they break the rules, and mandatory caller ID is the latest in a series of steps we are taking as part of a closely coordinated effort with regulators, industry and consumer groups to tackle the problem."
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