The Consumer Direct website has received 1,234,832 hits to date. A breakdown of the use of the website is listed in the table (annex a).
The number of complaints submitted through the Consumer Direct website for each quarter is listed in the table (annex b).
The Government established Consumer Direct to offer practical advice for consumers. 350,000 consumers have had access to advice in this year alone, with estimated total benefits to consumers worth£135 million.
Quarter 1 Quarter 2 Quarter 3 Quarter 4 English language1 Page views 2006 1,015,946 1,049,485 1,084,412 — 2005 373,689 472,270 735,661 664,767 2004 —- — — 309,388 Visits 2006 213,784 221,872 232,206 — 2005 76,174 105,412 166,277 152,901 2004 — — — 62,254 Visitors 2006 200,394 208,166 217,487 — 2005 71,027 96,712 156,224 143,533 2004 — — — 58,640 Welsh language2 Page views 2006 1,276 1,160 1,189 — 2005 — 1,507 1,061 955 2004 — — — — Visits 2006 658 575 1,189 — 2005 — 534 493 503 2004 — — — — Visitors 2006 644 564 582 — 2005 — 510 475 494 2004 — — — — 1 Statistics start on 30 September 2004 2 Statistics start on 31 March 2005 Note: Q3 is not finished
The regions EE1 EM2 LR3 NE4 NW5 SC6 SE7 SW8 WA9 WM10 YH11 Total 2004-05 Q1 — — — — — — — — — — — 0 Q2 — — — — — — — — — — — 0 03 — — — — — — — — — — — 0 Q4 — — — — — — — — — — — 0 2005-06 Q1 — — — — — — — — — — — 0 Q2 — — — — — — — — — — — 0 Q3 — — — — — — — — — — — 0 Q4 188 278 566 50 306 192 735 307 93 166 226 3,107 2006-07 Ql 420 631 1270 292 856 578 1,791 1,038 253 597 607 8,333 Q2 462 644 1444 361 878 508 1,935 1,259 280 379 766 8,916 Q3 188 229 473 127 315 243 705 420 113 204 239 3,256 Q4 — — — — — — — — — — — 0 23,612 1 East of England 2 East Midlands 3 London 4 North-East 5 North-West 6 Scotland 7 South-East 8 South-West 9 Wales 10 West Midlands 11 Yorkshire and the Humber Source: Secure Post Office Message Tracking Report March-October 2006
The Office of Fair Trading became responsible for Consumer Direct on 1 April 2006. From historical information provided by DTI and OFT's own records, the cost of setting up and running the Consumer Direct helpline was:
Amount (£) Year ended 31 March 20041 3,000,000 31 March 20052 12,500,000 31 March 20062 18,500,000 Quarter ended 30 June 2006 4,276,552 30 September 2006 3,929,618 1 This data has been provided by DTI from page 11 of their Consumer Direct Programme Closure Report, June 2006 (D06/538302).2 Data was not provided broken down by quarter.
The Government established Consumer Directto offer practical advice for consumers. 350,000 consumers have had access to advice in this year alone, with estimated total benefits to consumers worth£135 million.
The breakdown of the use of the Consumer Direct helpline is listed in the following table.
The Government established Consumer Directto offer practical advice for consumers. 350,000 consumers have had access to advice in this year alone, with estimated total benefits to consumers worth£135 million.
EE1 EM1 LR1 NE1 NW1 SC1 SE1 SW1 WA1 WM1 YH1 Total 2004-05 Q1 — — — — — 778 — — — — — 778 Q2 — — — — — 24,029 — 15,251 13,320 — 23,864 76,464 Q3 — — — — — 21,175 — 31,438 26,037 — 34,697 113,347 Q4 1,326 — 1,728 — — 25,454 5,549 30,153 23,325 — 36,131 123,666 2005-06 Q1 17,393 8,393 24,193 — — 22,354 35,890 29,025 21,744 — 35,150 194,142 Q2 29,707 21,761 44,159 — — 22,062 50,175 36,379 22,541 — 38,822 265,606 Q3 26,724 25,738 40,275 — 2,717 24,226 43,904 32,657 21,719 130 35,664 253,754 Q4 34,767 30,184 48,551 4,251 34,850 23,772 58,178 35,113 22,974 16,769 36,769 346,178 2006-07 Q1 35,242 29,113 43,702 14,459 42,970 25,614 60,087 34,747 23,598 24,696 34,917 369,145 Q2 38,846 32,679 51,061 17,855 50,696 26,658 65,390 37,522 22,877 37,493 38,628 419,705 Q3 23,497 17,578 26,343 9,344 31,830 15,897 36,191 26,573 15,112 19,426 24,690 246,481 Q4 — — — — — — — — — — — — Total 2,409,266 1 The regions: EE = East of England EM = East Midlands LR = London NE = North-East NW = North-West SC = Scotland SE = South East SW = South West WA = Wales WM = West Midlands YH = Yorkshire and the Humber Source: ACD Daily Stats submitted by each Consumer Direct Regional Centre from inception to latest available data (week commencing20 November 2006).
The OFT became responsible for Consumer Direct on 1 April 2006. From historical information provided by DTI and OFT's own records, the cost of the Consumer Direct initiative to30 September 2006 has been £42,206,170.
The Government established Consumer Direct to offer practical advice for consumers. 350,000 consumers have had access to advice in this year alone, with estimated total benefits to consumers worth£135 million.
The budget for Consumer Direct for each year until 2010 currently stands at £19,000,000. We are unable to confirm funding of this service beyond March 2010 until this is agreed between the OFT and Treasury.
The Government established Consumer Directto offer practical advice for consumers. 350,000 consumers have had access to advice in this year alone, with estimated total benefits to consumers worth£135 million.