How is the SNP Scottish Government tackling nuisance calls?

While regulation of nuisance calls and texts is reserved to the UK government, the Scottish Government is committed to doing all it can to tackle the growing problem.

In 2016, the Scottish Government created Scotland’s Nuisance Calls Commission to protect vulnerable people from scams and unscrupulous business practices. The Scottish Government has since published an action plan in response to the Commission, which can be read in full here.

In order to implement and build on the action plan, the Scottish Government will provide a further £75,000 to fund call blocker technology, in addition to our previous commitment of £50,000.

Call blockers will be distributed by Trading Standard Scotland, in partnership with third sector organisations, to ensure they are targeted at the most vulnerable, protecting over 1,200 people.

At Westminster, we will continue to urge the UK government to take action against nuisance calls. Patricia Gibson MP proposed a new law to ensure company bosses are held to account if they breach nuisance call regulations, which could see company directors facing fines of up to £500,000 if found to be in breach of the law on nuisance calls. We will continue to make the case for the UK government to implement these changes as soon as possible.