§ 9. Mr. Martin Salter (Reading, West)How many pensioners will benefit from the provision of free television licences to those aged over 75 years; and what plans he has to reform the current system of concessionary television licences. [98975]
§ The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr. Chris Smith)More than 3 million households will benefit from the provision of television licences free of charge to people aged 75 and over. The Government are still considering whether to make any further changes to the existing concessionary arrangements, in the light of the recommendations in the Davies report on the future funding of the BBC and the responses to the public consultation on the report. An announcement will be made early in the new year.
§ Mr. SalterI thank the Secretary of State for that answer. I understand that there is a separate regime for the licensing of television sets in Her Majesty's prisons. Should Lord Archer end up in prison, will he be given the same access to the television licensing regime as any other common criminal?
§ Mr. SmithThe short answer is yes. Because of Crown exemption, television sets in prisons do not require a television licence. Therefore, in such hypothetical circumstances, the noble Lord would be given access to a free television licence some 16 years ahead of his 75th birthday.
§ Mr. Eric Forth (Bromley and Chislehurst)Who will pay for all this—the taxpayer or the licence fee payer?
§ Mr. SmithIn relation to the question about Lord Archer, the answer is that I am not sure. In relation to the general concession to pensioners aged 75 and over, the answer is that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer has made that money available out of Exchequer funds, and the cost is £300 million.
§ Mr. David Winnick (Walsall, North)Is my right hon. Friend aware that the Chancellor's decision, announced a few weeks ago, is much welcomed by the age group that will benefit? Can he explain why the previous Government did everything that they possibly could to prevent the concession being granted to pensioners, despite the years of campaigning by Labour Members?
§ Mr. SmithI congratulate my hon. Friend on his own dogged, persistent and extremely effective efforts to raise the matter in the House. He is right to say that my right hon. Friend's announcement has been warmly 336 welcomed. The only place that it does not appear to have been welcomed is on the Opposition Benches. On 10 November, the Daily Mail—which, of course, I always believe—said:
Tories dismissed the free TV licences as a gimmick".Perhaps they are thereby saying that they would remove that benefit, which my right hon. Friend has made available.
§ Mr. Peter Ainsworth (East Surrey)However well received this concession is—I am sure that it will be well received by Baroness Thatcher, as by many other people of that age group—can the right hon. Gentleman confirm that the free licence scheme will not extend to the cost of any extra fee that may be payable for digital television services? What is to stop every household with a 75-year-old switching the licence into the 75-year-old's name and watching television for nothing? Does not the scheme mean that, in future, the Government will take a direct stake in the funding of the BBC of at least £300 million a year? What guarantee can the right hon. Gentleman offer the BBC that that will not compromise its independence?
§ Mr. SmithFrom those questions and the hon. Gentleman's failure to answer the point that I have raised, I have to take it that the Opposition would remove this benefit if they ever got into government.
I wish to make two points in answer to the hon. Gentleman's questions. First, the benefit will be available to all pensioners of 75 years and over and it will be available to their households. That is what we have said and that is what we shall put in place. Secondly, there will be an absolute guarantee that providing the money for that benefit will in no way endanger the BBC's independence.