The Mailing Preference Service is a voluntary response by the direct marketing industry to meet the concerns of consumers who do not wish to receive unsolicited mail. The number of complaints about the effectiveness of the Mailing Preference Service is small, and my Department has no proposals to introduce greater powers to take action against mailing companies that have failed to screen their customer listings effectively against the MPS, beyond those already possessed by the Advertising Standards Authority.
Every day, millions of people throughout this country receive unwanted letters, e-mails and telephone calls, many of which originate overseas. What action is the Department taking to combat that problem?
There are arrangements under the MPS for individuals to say that they do not want to receive such items of mail, and Royal Mail also operates an opt-out system. On the other hand, I must say that direct mailing works for many companies and organisations; it is a legitimate way to advertise products. Also, the revenue that Royal Mail gets from direct mailing helps to maintain the low cost of postage in this country. So there is a balance to be struck. For those who complain, there is a clear complaints procedure in place to allow them to have their complaints taken seriously. Last year there were 4,666 complaints, and up to November this year there were 4,000 complaints, but there are billions of pieces of direct mail, so we need to get the problem in perspective.
The credit card and financial industry seems to be one of the greatest users of junk mail. I am chairman of the all-party identity fraud group, and I am very concerned about the information sent out in junk mail relating to credit card application forms. Please will the Minister talk to the industry so that we can close down one area in which it seems that ID fraud is on the increase?
The Government take identity fraud very seriously, which is one reason why we are bringing forward our identity card proposal—about which I know that the hon. Gentleman is very supportive and sympathetic. We take such issues seriously. We are in discussions with the banks about the ability of individuals to get above their level of credit. We are also talking, via the Insolvency Service, to credit card companies. These are important issues and I know that the organisations that market such services take them seriously, but we always need to be vigilant.