Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Cold calls from political parties vs. Telephone Preference Service
Does anyone know if political parties are supposed to abide by the Telephone Preference Service?
I just got a cold call from a very nice Lib-Dem lady asking about the mayoral elections however I'm registered with the TPS and am wondering both how they got my number and whether they should cross reference against the do not call list.
No big deal but was curious...
More info on TPS here - well worth registering...
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Maddy on
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I challenged someone delivering a Lib Dem leaflet through my letterbox, which is clearly marked "No Junk Mail". He told me it was my "democratic right" to receive information from political parties. Bloomin' cheek to phone you, I think.
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Permalink Reply by Protheroe O'Shea on
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Wow at least they posted it through your letterbox, they left mine on the doorstep!
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Some people seem to think that by not actually putting it through the letterbox, they have not contravened the "no junk" sign...I've found pizza leaflets and minicab cards deposited on the mat.
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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As a 4-times council candidate in my own ward, and a canvasser for other candidates can I put "another side".
Personally I am not a fan of "telephone canvassing". I've the same dislike for any calls out of the blue to sell me insurance etc. But in many cases the lists parties have are of people who've indicated support for the party. So it's often about phoning and chatting to our supporters or potential supporters.
But I enjoy going door-to-door and meeting people. I tend not to do it the way we are supposed to - which is to keep contact brief and efficiently identify potential or actual supporters. The aim is build up a reasonably accurate idea of who is likely to vote for us. So we can do our best to make sure they actually come out on Polling Day. As far as I know all the main parties use this system.
Personally, I much prefer to talk to people who want to talk. And listen to their views about local services; and particular local problems. We also pick up "casework" issues when calling and can try to solve these or refer people to agencies which can help.
Personally I find this far more useful and revealing than - for example - the badly drafted and sometimes spurious "surveys" in leaflets. I have little time for party leaflets which - for every party - are often badly written, poorly designed and, frankly, dull. (They needn't be. Many years ago we had a party member who was a first-rate journalist and she volunteered to do the job.)
Leaflets do show that party volunteers have actually been round. So often during elections people tell you that they only see a councillor every four years. Which is probably true, but only because most people are either out; or look through their window, see the party rosettes and ignore the doorbell.
Which takes us back to the phonecalls.
One other point. Local politics are now focused on the undemocratic and dysfunctional leader/mayor/cabinet system. The rest of us are supposed to be glove puppets; keeping quiet or parroting the party line. As local newspapers dwindle, they mostly carry official press releases.
One outcome is less and less opportunity for people to know what their local ward councillors are doing or thinking. (Assuming they are doing or thinking very much at all.)
Can I suggest, Adam and Maddy, that you give some thought to how you'd prefer to engage with the local parties. Assuming you think that voting is a valuable right. How should the political parties - and independents come to that - keep you informed? Tell you what they've been doing? Where they stand on important issues? How should they seek your views and consult on local issues?
Please bear in mind that party expenditure on leaflets etc. during election periods is very strictly controlled on a per elector basis. So most parties depend on member volunteers. That includes now in the run-up to the London Mayor and Assembly elections.
(Labour councillor Tottenham Hale ward)
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Permalink Reply by Michael Dwells on
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I did a little research online and I found out it is a legal requirement that political parties DO NOT make political calls to numbers registered on the TPS unless they have the consent to do so. But it's not an instant solution. Although registering on the TPS will help reduce the number of political calls, it will not stop all of them. It's a gradual process.
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Glad to hear you're checking this, Michael. Could I please ask you to post the specific link to the legal provision you've found. I will check with the local Labour Party that its electors lists comply with the Telephone Preference Service rules. And hopefully, people from the other parties will do the same.
It may also be handy for HoL members to be able to quote the rules if they are phoned by party volunteers on "phone banks".
But please consider as well the points I made on 2 April (post above).
You'll rarely hear about the work of your ward councillors in the local freesheets - unless they happen to be the Dear Leader or hand-picked "cabinet" members doing a photo-op for a press release. (Or occasionally if someone speaks out against the party line.) It's much the same with the London elections. From the media coverage people could easily think there were only three or perhaps four candidates; and no such body as the London Assembly.
Yet, from a few comments on HoL, it sometimes seems that people are saying: "Please don't ring our doorbell; or call us on the phone; or put leaflets through our letterbox. And by the way we never hear from you".
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Permalink Reply by adamvietnam on
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Alan, from the front page of the Telephone Preference Service:
The Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is a free service. It is the official central opt out register on which you can record your preference not to receive unsolicited sales or marketing calls. It is a legal requirement that all organisations (including charities, voluntary organisations and political parties) do not make such calls to numbers registered on the TPS unless they have your consent to do so.
http://www.mpsonline.org.uk/tps/index.html
Is it your assertion that this is incorrect?
Incidentally I got an additional call on Thursday from the Lib Dems again - this time asking how I voted.
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Apologies Adam, I was responding to Michael Dwells. I should have paid more attention and re-read your first posting.
Why would I want to assert that the Telephone Preference Service (TPS) is incorrect? I want organisations - including political parties - to keep to the law. Cllr Joanna Christophides is the part-time paid organiser for the Labour Party in Haringey. I will ask her to confirm that our telephone banks fully comply with the TPS rules. I suggest you ring Haringey LibDems and make the same request to them.
Although you may like to know that the reason political parties ask people if they've voted is so we can stop bothering them by coming round and reminding them to vote.
At one Parliamentary election a large family had all promised to vote for David Lammy. As the day passed our tellers (taking numbers at the polling stations) indicated they hadn't yet voted. People went round to remind them and they said: "Sure. Later. No problem". Eventually someone asked David to go round in person and ask. All smiles, they strolled down to vote.
(Labour councillor Tottenham Hale ward)
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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I'm not questioning that its a legal requirement, but it'd be nice to know which Act or Regulations are referenced by the claim.
I've been on TPS for many years and I believe that its observed as far as I can tell, with one big exception ...
IMO, the problem in this area these days is not local abuse, but from calls originating overseas, which places are beyond the reach of UK law. Most or all of these (unsolicited) calls want to:
- sell me telecoms services
- get me to participate in a marketing survey
- know if I've had an accident and want compensation
- convince me I've got a problem on my computer
- sell me worthless shares
The common factor is that all these calls come from overseas (normally India) and are unregulated. The facility to block calls where the caller withholds their number only works for calls originating domestically.
A telecoms engineer friend told me some time ago, that for international calls, the numbers of the calling party are carried as close as the local telephone exchange, but there is not yet the technical ability to pass this information on to the individual subscriber, who could (otherwise) then decide to ignore or block the call.
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Permalink Reply by Stuart on
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It's a clear breach of the Data Protection Act 1998. They are required to check the TPS and if you are on it and they phone you, they are in breach.
If you can be bothered, report it to the Information Commissioner's Office (the regulator for data protection). But don't expect a speedy resolution or a hefty fine. If they bother to look into it (they're inundated and under-resourced), at most they'll probably just get them to agree not to do it again.
In answer to Clive's point, the DPA only applies to UK data controllers and doesn't give the Information Commissioner any jurisdiction over foreign companies (unless they are acting on behalf of UK ones such as an Indian call centre for a UK retailer).
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Can I please ask for help from HoL members? Their own experience being "cold-called" on their voting intentions.
As promised, I took this up with the Labour Party. Beginning with the simple question: do the telephone lists used for “cold calling” include people who have registered with the Telephone Preference Service? (TPS) This is intended to prevent those who opt into the service from receiving unsolicited phonecalls.
The initial advice I got from the party nationally is that the Labour Party, as a non-commercial organization, is not covered by the restriction when we phone to conduct research. (For example, how individuals currently intend to vote)
I was told that electors can ask – at the door, on the phone, or by mail - not be contacted by the Labour Party and this request will always be honoured. Also that if they are ex-directory, they will normally not be contacted at all.
So, primed by Adam at the start of this thread, I gave the link to the TPS. Again thanks to Adam, I quoted the first paragraph of the TPS home page: "It is a legal requirement that all organisations (including charities, voluntary organisations and political parties) do not make such calls to numbers registered on the TPS unless they have your consent to do so."
I also found a specific document on the website of the Information Commissioners Office ICO. "Guidance for political parties for campaigning or promotional purposes". Section nine of this says:
"If a person has agreed to you telephoning them, then you may do so even if they have registered their number with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS). Otherwise, however, you cannot make phone calls to anyone, including an existing supporter, who has registered with TPS or who has objected to you directly about the use of their information for direct marketing purposes."I pointed out to my Labour colleagues that calls from party volunteers as part of an election campaign don't seem like a common sense usage of the word "research" to me. (Though I assume that a polling company might fall within this.)
I got the assurance that the “script” used by volunteers at the central “phonebanks” (and which local parties are also asked to use) does not ask people to support us; nor does it promote the Labour Party. So it doesn’t fall within the scope of the ICO guidance which is explicitly about methods which "promote the aims and ideals of a political party in order to gain support for a party or candidate". I was again told it is research; used for various purposes including e.g. analysing support patterns by demography and geography.
I don’t claim any expertise on this topic. But it seems to me that some clarification would be helpful. Especially about calls made in the run-up to a specific election. Though the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) may agree with the interpretation of cold calls as “research".
Before I write to ICO, I’d welcome any examples of these cold calls – by whichever party. (If you’d prefer not to post it here, you can email me: alan.stanton@virgin.net. I’ll leave out which Party called you, and anonymize what you say - unless you give permission to use your name.)
Political parties must not break the law. Although I’m also sympathetic to candidates who simply want to contact electors and ask for their vote. I'm not a fan of George W. Bush, but I rather like the direct way he did this.
“Thanks for having me. It’s good to be here. I’m here to ask for the vote; that’s what I’m doing. I’ve been travelling on that bus throughout your beautiful State telling people I’d like their vote.”
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