Obscene Telephone Calls To Women

EDM number 223 in 1996-97, proposed by Janet Anderson on 20/11/1996.

That this House is appalled at the findings of Home Office Research Paper 92 which reveals that one in 10 women receive obscene telephone calls every year and that, if other types of nuisance calls are included, such as threatening and offensive calls and heavy breathing, women receive more than 30 million nuisance calls a year; congratulates the Daily Express on their campaign highlighting this problem; understands that recent measures to identify callers have had limited effect because callers can withhold or put a block on their telephone numbers; notes the conclusion of the Home Office Report that 'the probability is that the technological means for controlling the problem will be brought to bear'; and calls upon the Home Secretary to take urgent steps, in consultation with the police and BT, to see that it is.

This motion has been signed by a total of 54 MPs.