asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many non-geographic telephone numbers are in use by the Department for Constitutional Affairs and its agencies; what services can be accessed by calling each of them; and what revenue has been received from them between September 2004 and September 2006. [HL3304]

My department has 12 0500 numbers, seven 0800 numbers; 53 0845 numbers, 43 0870 numbers and one 0900 number, that are in use for the public. In addition there are a further 481 0870 numbers that are used internally on its Goldfax system. The department does not keep a central record of all the services that can be accessed through each of the numbers. That information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The revenue received from the 0900 number, which is used for the bankruptcy and company court search line, between April 2005 (when the line came into operation) and September 2006, was £59,373.43.

The department's central recruitment unit uses 41 0870 numbers for its recruitment campaigns. The revenue received between September 2004 and September 2006 was £7,847.74. HM Land Registry operates a number of 0870 numbers for land registry services and the revenue from these was £426,990.15 for the period September 2004 to September 2006.