Willott Welcomes Early Success of 101 Non Emergency Number in Cardiff

3.25.26pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 25th Apr 2007

Today, Jenny Willott MP praised the early success of the 101 Non-Emergency Number in Cardiff.

Over the last month, the 101 number has:

• Received over 16,000 calls, almost half of which were direct calls to the 101 number.

• Over 80% of calls were answered within 30 seconds.

• The calls were regarding a variety of non-emergency cases with the three most common being advice & information, lost property and drunk and rowdy behaviour.

Commenting, Jenny said:

"The 101 number for non-emergencies is proving to be a real success in Cardiff with over 16,000 calls to the number last month.

"In the past, up to 70% of calls to 999 were non-emergencies. The 101 number frees up 999 and allows the emergency services to prioritise better their responses and to coordinate efforts more effectively. This is going lead to better policing and ultimately safer streets in the city of Cardiff.

"It is still early days, but it seems that people in Cardiff are becoming increasingly used to the idea of 2 emergency numbers - 101 for less serious incidents and 999 for serious emergencies."

A new pilot with the 101 number is underway. Two orange and black retro style phones are to be installed at the front desk of Cardiff Central Police Station and the reception of the Council's Help centre at Marland House. The phones will directly link people through to the 101 call centre.

Commenting, Jenny said:

"This is an innovative and colourful way to remind people of the 101 number and to give greater access to the information and service that it provides. If this pilot is successful I hope to see more of these orange and black phones at key points across the city."

Commenting on the news that rollout of the 101 number may be delayed, Jenny said:

"It seems that problems over funding may be behind a decision to delay rolling out the 101 number to other parts of Wales. This is real shame and leads to speculation that if money wasn't wasted elsewhere, such as on police force mergers or ID cards, perhaps there would be funding available.

"The success we have seen in Cardiff with the 101 number should be shared with the rest of Wales."