MP Attacks 'Uncontactable' Government Phone Numbers

11.35.34am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 25th Jan 2005

Vincent Cable attacked the Minister of Work (Rt Hon Jane Kennedy) in the Commons yesterday over jammed government phone lines, essential for obtaining national insurance numbers. He raised the issue on behalf of residents and the local Citizens Advice Bureau who have found that when they call Job Centre Plus it is impossible to get through. Because they cannot get through, they cannot arrange to obtain a national insurance number and cannot work.

"The Minister was unbelievably complacent and claimed not to have seen a letter I sent three months ago drawing her attention to the problem. Many people in south west and south London are being deprived of an opportunity to work and earn a living because of this incompetence. Even the local Citizens Advice Bureau is at its wits end, unable to get through to the number."