To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what recent discussions he has had with telecommunications companies on their telephone sales policies.

No recent discussions of this nature have been held, although in the past year I have held two roundtable meetings with representatives of tele- communications companies, consumer groups and MPs to consider possible measures to tackle the issue of unsolicited sales calls. All companies, irrespective of sector, are required to comply with the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) 2003. These regulations forbid them from making an unsolicited telephone sales call to a consumer whose number is registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), or if they have previously advised the caller not to make further calls to them. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) enforces the PECR and can issue a monetary penalty of up to £500,000 for a breach of the regulations.