§ 31. Mr. Sorensenasked the Assistant Postmaster-General his estimate of the number of owners of broadcasting and of television sets who fail to take out licences; how many are annually prosecuted; and what is the average number of applications for licences in sample areas consequent on the assumption of special investigation in such areas.
§ Mr. GammansNo reliable estimate can be given of the number of people using sound receivers or television sets without a licence. Last year about 9,500 people were prosecuted. Investigations were made in many areas during September, October and November, and in this period the number of television licences for the whole country rose by 465,000, while the number of sound licences fell by 93,000. While these investigations have certainly contributed largely to the increase in the number of television licences, other factors have also had an effect, for example, the opening of new television stations and the lifting of hire-purchase restrictions in mid-July.
§ Mr. SorensenCan any deduction be drawn from the figures as to the proportion of those owning television or sound-receiving sets who do not have licences?
Mr. GammonsNo, Sir, it is very difficult to draw any reliable deduction from the figures. What we are doing is to increase the services we provide to try to discover and prosecute people who do not take out licences. I think that on the figures I have given the hon. Member and on the figures which, no doubt, he has seen in the Press, we have been increasingly successful in doing that.