§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will take appropriate steps to ensure that channel 9 on citizens band radio is used for emergency purposes only.
§ Mr. MellorThe Citizens Band code of practice already recommends that channel 9 should be used only for emergencies and assistance. We are not convinced that a mandatory restriction would be appropriate.
§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many persons are employed in each county in the United Kingdom in order to monitor citizens band radio users to ensure compliance with conditions of licences which under section 1(1) of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 prohibit transmissions which are grossly offensive or of an indecent or obscene character;
485W(2) whether he will take steps to enforce section 1(1) of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 against persons who use foul language on citizens band radio in contravention of condition 8 of citizens band radio licences;
(3) how many men, how many women and how many young persons, respectively, have been prosecuted under section 1(1) of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 for breach of condition 8 of the citizens band radio licence for making transmissions which are grossly offensive or of an indecent or obscene character; how many such persons in each category were convicted in each of the relevant years; and what penalties were imposed on them.
§ Mr. MellorProsecution statistics are not available in the form requested. However, in 1982 13 persons were prosecuted under section 1(1) of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 for not complying with the terms of their CB radio licences. Members of British Telecom's radio interference service, who act as our agents in the enforcement of wireless telegraphy legislation, are authorised to investigate abuse of the licensed CB radio service when they can do so without prejudice to their work on radio interference. The number of persons employed in the radio interference service is not available on a county basis but the field-force in each region of British Telecom, with an indication of the counties they cover, is given below:
Field Force Eastern Region (Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire) 29 London (GLC area and parts of surrounding counties) 46 Midlands (West Midlands, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, part of Lincolnshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire) 32 North East (part of Lincolnshire, North, South and West Yorkshire, Humberside, Cleveland, Co. Durham, Tyne and Wear, Northumberland) 29 Northern Ireland 5 North West (Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside, Greater Manchester, part of Cheshire) 22 Scotland 24 South East (Berkshire, Surrey, part of Hampshire, East and West Sussex, Kent, Isle of Wight) 25 South West (Gloucestershire, Avon, Wiltshire, part of Hampshire, Dorset, Somerset, Devon, Cornwall) 32 Wales and the Marches (Welsh counties, part of Cheshire, Shropshire, Hereford and Worcester) 18
§ Mr. Greville Jannerasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been collected from citizens band radio users by way of licence fees in each of the months since the licence was introduced; and for what purposes such licence fees are used.
§ Mr. MellorFollowing is the information requested:
486W
Month Amount £ 1981 November 751,960 December 285,280 1982 January 544,630 February 307,800 March 288,130 April 382,560 May 181,090 June 108,640 July 293,490
Month Amount £ August 152,220 September 154,960 October 358,170 November 212,940 December 119,570 Total 4,141,440 The CB licence fee is used to cover the costs of administering the licensing system and to offset some of the increased costs of investigating interference caused by CB.