Rosie Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rosie Cooper on 2016-01-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department provides to police forces on how to deal with a situation in which an emergency 999 call is erroneously directed to the wrong police force; and what procedures police forces have put in place to deal with such a situation.

Mr Edward Vaizey

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

The 999/112 Liaison Committee, chaired by DCMS, provides a forum for representatives from Government; Communications Providers, including BT (which provides the 999 call handling agency) and Mobile Network Operators (MNOs); emergency services and Ofcom, to discuss 999 operational matters The LC’s main concern is the effective handling and transfer of emergency calls from the public, through call handling agents ,to emergency authorities.

The “Code of Practice for the Public Emergency Call Service (PECS) between Communications Providers, Call Handing Agencies and the Emergency Authorities” sets out protocols governing 999 calls. This includes guidelines for the Emergency Authorities to manage any occasional situation in which an emergency 999 call is misdirected.