§ 9. Mr. Ben Bradshaw (Exeter)How many families in Exeter will benefit from the introduction of free television licences for households with a member aged 75 years or over. [144787]
§ The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Mr. Chris Smith)TV Licensing, which administers this concession for the BBC as licensing authority, is not able to provide geographical breakdowns of the number of free licences issued. However, I can tell my hon. Friend that estimates of the over-75 population based on the 1991 census indicate that there were approximately 7,900 people aged 75 or over in the Exeter constituency.
§ Mr. BradshawIs my right hon. Friend aware that a pensioner in Exeter told me at the weekend that he would vote Labour for the first time ever because this is the first Government who have done anything for him? Bearing that and the Tories' pledge to scrap free TV licences in mind, has he thought of extending that popular measure to all pensioners?
§ Mr. SmithI am delighted to hear what my hon. Friend has to say about his constituent. We wanted to focus the initial help on that section of the pensioner population because its members not only often have the least means, but depend more on television viewing than any others because of poor mobility. That was why we introduced the concession in the way that we did. I shall of course 648 draw my hon. Friend's remarks to the attention of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor and those are matters that we shall want to discuss further, but, in the process, we should remind the voters that the Tories have pledged to scrap that free licence.
§ Dr. Julian Lewis (New Forest, East)Will the Secretary of State join me in congratulating the hon. Member for Exeter (Mr. Bradshaw) on finding a 75-year-old in his constituency who is so impressed by the measure? Does he agree that the hon. Gentleman is more likely to find many more 65-year-olds who are distinctly underwhelmed by the 75p rise in the basic pension that they received? Is not the real reason why the Government are so keen to give out free television licences that they want to maximise the number of people who will be exposed to the BBC's propaganda, orchestrated by the Government cronies who they have put at the head of the corporation?
§ Mr. SmithI trust that the 65-year-olds to whom the hon. Gentleman refers will note that their pensions will rise by £5 this April.