HC Deb 06 July 1966 vol 731 cc418-9
28. Mr. Hornby

asked the Postmaster-General whether he will revive the practice of granting a single broadcasting licence to cover all broadcasting instruments used in an old people's home.

The Postmaster-General (Mr. Edward Short)

No, Sir. This change was made some years ago because it was unfair to retirement pensioners generally and to others if one group of people were exempted from taking out licences for sets used in their private quarters. I am afraid that this argument is still valid.

Mr. Hornby

Would not the right hon. Gentleman agree that broadcasting offers a great deal of enjoyment to people who for one reason or another are unable to live in their own homes? Will he, therefore, at this moment when he has relaxed his Whip over his colleagues, consider taking a rather more generous attitude on this matter?

Mr. Short

I have great sympathy with this question. The truth is that up to 1952 the Postmaster-General turned a blind eye to what was in effect a breach of the law, and I do not think that we can now resume this amiable practice. However, there is an anomaly, and I am prepared to look at this.

30. Mr. Harold Walker

asked the Postmaster-General if he will state the approximate annual cost of introducing a 20 per cent. reduction in television and radio licence fees for retirement pensioners and chronically sick persons.

Mr. Edward Short

No assessment is available of the number of the chronic sick nor of how many have television sets. No precise estimate can be made of the cost of a concession to retirement pensioners, but I understand it would be in the region of £2 million to £4 million a year.

Mr. Walker

I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his first appearance at the Dispatch Box. Is it not obvious that the cost involved in the second of my two Questions is only a fraction of what will be recovered by the application of the proposed measure? Will he, therefore, make these people his first priority in disbursing any funds which may arise from the measures he proposes?

Mr. Short

I have every sympathy with my hon. Friend's point of view, but I do not think that this is a way of helping these people.