§ Mr. Beaneyasked the Postmaster-General (1) how many people are employed in collecting and sending reminders for television and wireless receiving licences; and how many are employed on detector vans;
(2) what is the approximate cost of maintaining the staff employed in sending reminders for television and wireless licences, and on detector vans.
§ Mr. BennOfficers engaged on the preparation and issue of broadcast receiving licence reminders and ancillary work may be employed on full-time or part-time duties. The time spent on this work in 1963–64 was equivalent to 837 full-time duties, plus overtime. The total cost was £925,717.
There are nine detector cars in use. Each one is allocated to a different region within which it travels from area to area, spending a few weeks in each place. Each car is manned by two or three men, who are usually local officers temporarily seconded to this work. Without extensive local inquiries it is not possible to segregate from the total costs of other work in connection with the broadcast receiving licence system the staff costs involved on this work; but they are estimated to be under £25,000 a year.