REMINDER: The deadline for submitting to the Culture, Media & Sport Committee’s consultation on nuisance calls is Thursday, 15 August.

Combating nuisance calls has been a challenging task for regulators and communications providers for years. According to research conducted by Ofcom, unwanted marketing calls and text messages, together with abandoned and silent calls, have been a significant source of anxiety and complaints among members of the public. In fact, the number of complaints has more than tripled since 2011.

Citizens advocacy groups like Which?, Citizens Advice, and the Communications Consumer Panel have all called for action. The LSE Media Policy Project’s latest policy brief, authored by LSE Visiting Senior Fellow Claire Milne, also gives an overview of the challenging issue and lays out some potential strategies for curbing nuisance calls.

Policy-makers appear to be listening. Ofcom has proposed coordinated action among regulators and stakeholders, calling on the Government to ease limitations on sharing complaints data. Following that recommendation, the Department for Culture, Media & Sport announced in its latest “Strategy Paper” an initiative to make it easier for Ofcom to collaborate with the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The Committee has invited short written submissions from those who wish to contribute to the inquiry. The submissions must be received by Thursday, 15 August 2013. Detailed information about submitting is available on the Committee website. Readers can also find the LSE Media Policy Project’s policy brief entitled Nuisance Calls: A Case for Concerted Action on the “Policy Resources” page.