To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent estimate Ofcom has made of the average waiting time before speaking to a person when calling telephone numbers with (a) 0844, (b) 0845, (c) 0870 and (d) 0871 prefixes; and if he will make a statement. (300851)

The matter raised is the responsibility of the independent regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which is accountable to Parliament rather than Ministers. Accordingly, I have asked the chief executive of Ofcom to reply directly to the hon. Member. Copies of the chief executive’s letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent estimate Ofcom has made of profit made by operators of lines with numbers with (a) 0844, (b) 0845, (c) 0870 and (d) 0871 prefixes in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement. (300852)

The matter raised is the responsibility of the independent regulator, the Office of Communications (Ofcom), which is accountable to Parliament rather than Ministers. Accordingly, I have asked the chief executive of Ofcom to reply directly to the hon. Member. Copies of the chief executive’s letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.