§ Mr. Lawrenceasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether, further to the answer to the hon. Member for Burton on 14th July 1976, he will set out all the steps which are being taken to reduce the evasion by 850,000 householders at a cost of £7.5 million of the television licence; and what cost is being incurred by the taking of those steps.
§ Mr. JohnA continuous effort is made to combat television licence evasion. The methods employed include the operation of the dealers' notification scheme, detector van activity, publicity campaigns, postal inquiries, visits to addresses where records indicate that no licence is held, and the prosecution of offenders. The cost of these measures is not separately identifiable. It is one element in the total cost of all enforcement work, which was £13.5 million in 1975–76, but that figure was accounted for mainly by the despatch of licence reminders and the maintenance of records.