§ Mr. Newtonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the annual revenue from broadcasting licences for burglar alarms; and what are the annual cost incurred in collecting it.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesThe annual revenue from licences to use radio burglar alarms for the last five years is as follows:
£ 1973 1,428 1974 820 1975 1,228 1976 1,160 1977 1,432 These licences are issued for a five-year period. The guiding principle in charging fees for transmitting licences such as these is to recover the total administrative and regulatory costs inherent in the licensing requirement laid down by the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949. It is difficult to isolate the cost of collecting the revenue from licences for burglar alarms from that of the many other licences issued under the Act; but on a very rough calculation the current total annual cost incurred in processing these licences and collecting the fees is in the order of £1,500, which is in line with the guiding principle.