Hansard

I congratulate Linda Fabiani on lodging her motion on 999 emergency calls, which has enabled us to have today's discussion on what is an important issue, particularly given the resources available to the various emergency services. I fully endorse Linda's comment that any member of the public who believes that they are in danger and in need of assistance should contact the relevant emergency service by dialling 999 without hesitation—that is absolutely right. That 999 facility is a critical and valuable service for the general public. It should be, and is, cherished.

I am concerned about Linda Fabiani's contention that a recent campaign aimed at reducing the abuse of 999 calls might be construed as discouraging the use of the emergency call system on legitimate grounds. This is certainly not what the campaign does, and I take this opportunity to set the record straight. It is a joint publicity campaign by Lothian and Borders police, Fife constabulary and Central Scotland police, under the heading of "999: use it, don't abuse it". I think it unlikely that those three police forces would be participating in a campaign that was not going to be of benefit to the public whom they serve. The campaign, sponsored by BT Scotland, commenced on Wednesday 7 June and is to run for four weeks. During that time, more than 300 commercials will be broadcast by Scot FM.

The objective of the campaign is simple. It seeks to encourage use of the 999 system for genuine emergency calls. It also seeks to protect that important lifeline between the police and the public for its primary purpose. I am sure that all members would support that objective. The benchmark for a genuine emergency is properly defined as

"any situation where there is a threat to life or limb or a serious ongoing incident which requires immediate police attendance."

It is not unreasonable to ask members of the public to form a judgment against that background when considering making a 999 call.

The reason behind the campaign is that, in the past 12 months, the number of 999 calls received by police forces has increased dramatically. For example, the number of 999 calls received by Lothian and Borders police has risen by 31 per cent. This means that Lothian and Borders police is now handling more than 10,000 999 calls each month. There are a number of reasons for the increase, the most obvious of which is the significant and rapid growth in mobile telephone ownership. Although mobile phones are of great advantage in that more people are able to contact the emergency services quickly, that is also increasing the pressure on the 999 system. A recent scrutiny of 999 calls showed that only 32 per cent of all calls received related to genuine emergencies, as set against the definition that I have just read.

Of the rest of the calls, the majority were genuine, but were non-emergency calls. They included people seeking advice that could have been dealt with by contacting the local police station, requests for information about minor incidents or accidents that had happened some time ago and calls for general information, travel news and weather updates. There were also silent calls, which were accidentally activated, with no speech on the line. Between 9 and 10 per cent of calls received, as I think David Mundell indicated earlier, were of an abusive, nonsense or malicious nature.

It is worth giving some examples of the type of non-urgent 999 calls made to the police. In one case, a person called 999 to report that their partner had left their wallet on the bus. Someone else called 999 to say that someone had stolen their lunch. Another person called 999 to say that his next-door neighbour was cutting the garden hedge between the two houses and throwing the clippings into the caller's garden. Yet another person called 999 to say they were travelling to Manchester the next day and wanted to know what the roads would be like with regard to weather and traffic. Those are perhaps extreme examples, but they are not atypical and the list is endless.

Consequently, two thirds of the calls that are received on 999 lines are unnecessarily engaging the emergency lines and taking up critical control room staff time. Combined with the increase in 999 traffic, they make it a real possibility that a genuine emergency call might not be responded to in the appropriate time or with the proper resources, which could have dire consequences for the people who are involved.

Those problems are common throughout the country. All forces are recording similar increases in 999 calls and similar percentage figures for non-emergency calls to control rooms. As more than 22 million 999 calls are made to the emergency services each year in the UK, it is essential that something is done to reduce the number of non-emergency 999 calls that are made.

The "use it, don't abuse it" campaign was initiated by BT Scotland, which deals with the majority of emergency calls through its switchboard operators. Scot FM was engaged to front the campaign. The Scot FM listening area covers the three police force areas that I mentioned earlier, and those police forces enthusiastically agreed to participate in the campaign because they recognised the potential benefits. Great care was taken with the wording that was used in the commercials for the current campaign to ensure that the public were in no way discouraged from using 999 for genuine emergencies.

Considerable positive press coverage has been generated by the campaign, and I hope that the message is coming across that people are not to be discouraged from making proper use of the emergency call system. The "use it, don't abuse it" campaign is an attempt to educate telephone users to exercise care with their phones and to think about the consequences of making inappropriate calls to the police on the emergency 999 line, and will have genuine benefits. The effect of the campaign will be evaluated, with monitoring of before-and-after statistics providing a way of judging whether it has been successful. A similar campaign that was conducted by Cleveland police, in England, was successful and resulted in a 25 per cent reduction in non-emergency calls to the control room.

One important objective of this campaign is to get people to make more use of their local police stations instead of dialling 999. The telephone numbers of the local police stations are being published in local newspapers and in routine council publications.

There is a particular problem with silent calls, that is, 999 calls in which no one speaks at the other end of the line. The vast majority of those come from mobile phones, but they have to be treated seriously by the police and control room staff in case there is a genuine emergency. The public are being asked to take more care with their mobile phones, to prevent accidental activation when the phones are being carried in pockets or handbags. People are also being asked to keep their phones out of the reach of children who are too young to understand their use. A small number of people make malicious or abusive 999 calls, and the message is being put across to them that their actions constitute a criminal offence and efforts will be made to trace and report them.

Linda Fabiani raised an important point about the provision of a central call system. That is a complex matter, which is currently under consideration by the Police Information Technology Organisation. That organisation is a UK body that is responsible for developing and implementing information and communications systems for the police. The Scottish police and the Scottish Executive are represented on that body. PITO has been examining the requirements for a comprehensive police call handling strategy, to alleviate pressures on the 999 service and to provide a prompt and professional response to non-emergency calls. An initial scoping study has been carried out, and PITO is developing a strategy and a programme of work for its implementation. We have signalled to PITO our wish to be involved in this project and, with the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, we will consider the way forward for the police service in Scotland.

While I am talking about adjusting the present system, I shall take the opportunity to respond to some of the points that were made in the debate. The discussions over joint control rooms for the emergency services are under way, and there may be some progress on that in the future. It is within the power of local police forces to use CCTV appropriately throughout city and town areas in Scotland, and in other areas in which they have access to the facilities, not only to monitor the active response to criminal activity, but to be proactive about targeting difficult areas—999 calls could be a part of that. There is no restriction.

The last point to which I want to respond was made by Nick Johnston and was about the priority dispatch of ambulances. Susan Deacon has allocated an additional £100,000 for the Scottish Ambulance Service to carry out an investigation into a priority-based dispatch system. I am hopeful that a more logical system of responding will emerge at some point in the near future.

Members might recall that the Scottish Executive announced earlier this year that it is committed to assisting with the funding of a new police radio system in Scotland. That will be taken forward in conjunction with forces in England and Wales. It is important to note that the Public Safety Radio Communications Service will provide all forces with a national, digital, mobile radio communication service. The consequence of that will be a modern, reliable communications system that will operate throughout the country. The new communications infrastructure will also—this is important in terms of today's debate—provide an opportunity to customise the ways in which we deal with communications to, from and between police forces. That addresses some points that were made by members today and we look forward to developments.

In closing, I emphasise again that the public expect, rightly, that the emergency services will respond quickly to incidents and provide assistance to those who are in difficulties—that is appropriate. The emergency services accept that responsibility readily and the police service in particular will continue to respond positively and professionally. Effective policing and effective responses require partnership between the police and public in protecting the community. The current campaign—which I am happy to advocate—is about recognising that every second counts in genuine emergencies. The public's co-operation is being sought to make the most effective use of the valuable 999 service.

I commend the campaign to Parliament and ask members to support it.