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Summary

1.1 The Office of Communications (“Ofcom”) is undertaking this consultation in order to meet a request from the Home Office. The Home Office, in partnership with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, plans to establish a nationwide service using a single, memorable number for the public to report or enquire about non-emergency issues relating to police, crime and anti-social behaviour. The service, referred to as the “Single Non-Emergency Number” or “SNEN”, will be rolled out in a staged process, achieving national coverage by 2008. The underlying policy behind the service has been consulted on and decided by the Home Office as part of its wider police reform proposals and it is not within the scope of this consultation to consider issues other than communications matters within Ofcom’s remit.

1.2 Ofcom is the National Regulatory Authority responsible for communications matters in the UK, including the administration of the UK’s numbering resource. Ofcom has been asked by the Home Office to make a 3-digit telephone available for the delivery of its proposed SNEN service. In order to make a 3-digit number available for use by all communications providers in accordance with a designated service, the number would need to be added to the list of such numbers in General Condition 17 of the General Conditions of Entitlement, which covers the allocation, adoption and use of telephone numbers (“the Numbering Condition”).

1.3 The Home Office has selected its preferred choice of number for the service. It wants the most memorable number available so that the number and the SNEN service can become as much a part of the public consciousness as the “999” number is for calling the emergency organisations. Ofcom advised the Home Office on available options, including full or reduced digit length numbers from existing ranges in the National Telephone Numbering Plan. The Home Office considered these options and decided that a 3-digit number (similar to the “999” and “112” numbers used for calling the emergency organisations) would be the most suitable choice. It concluded that, of the possible 3-digit number options available, “101” was the best choice, being memorable, having a low risk of misdials and easy to navigate for the blind and partially-sighted. A paper written by the Home Office in support of its choice of number is provided at Annex 5 to this document. In addition, Ofcom’s consumer research found that members of the pubic see “101” as a highly memorable number for the SNEN. A report containing the findings of Ofcom’s consumer research on number and tariff proposals for the SNEN is published at Annex 6 of this document.

1.4 While the Home Office is committed to the provision of the non-emergency service on a 3-digit number, other options may be available. The purpose of this document, therefore, is to seek stakeholders’ views on the Home Office’s preferred and alternative options and to set out the reasons for the Home Office’s proposal to make the 3-digit number “101” available for the SNEN service.

1.5 As with the number, the choice of options on the call charge for the SNEN rest with the Home Office and not Ofcom. The 3-digit number would have no inherent tariff structure. Therefore, the Home Office has drawn up potential tariff options and Ofcom has set out these options on the Home Office’s behalf. However, the Home Office plans to implement the tariff through negotiation with the selected SNEN service provider and communications providers. Accordingly, Ofcom will not be intervening in the setting of the tariff and this consultation does not propose regulatory measures on the matter of call charges. The tariff options are presented for stakeholder consideration and comment. Once stakeholders’ views on those options are clear, Ofcom will assess the need to consider further issues of access to the SNEN and interconnection arrangements. If, at a future time, it is necessary for Ofcom to consider regulatory measures on the tariff, a further consultation on the specific issues and proposals would need to be carried out.

1.6 The main body of this document sets out background on the SNEN service and a discussion on the options for the number and tariff. There is also an evaluation of the options for the number in the form of a formal impact assessment. In line with the proposal on the number, this consultation contains a draft notification of the necessary modification to the Numbering Condition in order to implement the Home Office’s proposal as outlined above. Comments are invited on the draft notification in Annex 7, the specific consultation questions contained in the document and listed in Annex 4 and general comments on the document by 22 December 2005.

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