§ Mr. Maddenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the latest cost of administering the television licence system and the latest estimate of the loss of revenue through licence evasion; and what advice he has received regarding future costs of administration and evasion.
§ Mr. Merlyn Rees:The cost of administering the television licensing system in the year 1977–78, including the issue of licences, the sale of television licence savings stamps and enforcement work was about £23 million. The latest estimate of evasion is of the order of 1 million licences. An estimate of the annual loss of revenue at the new licence fees is under examination and I will write to my hon. Friend.
The cost effectiveness of the present arrangements for collecting television licence fees is closely monitored by a working party on which the Home Office, the Post Office and the BBC are represented. The possibility of improving the 202W methods employed is kept under constant review. A copy of the working party's annual report for the year to 31st March 1978 has been placed in the Library of the House.
§ Mr. Maddenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he has received for placing the television licence system on a computer; what is the estimated total cost of such computerisation; and what would be the manpower implications of such a proposal.
§ Mr. Merlyn Rees:The conversion of television licence records to computer working was completed in April 1976.
The national television licence records office, part of the Post Office which acts as agent for the Home Office in television licensing matters, makes use of a Post Office computer for its licensing work. Computerisation of the system has resulted in a substantial reduction in manpower and an improvement in efficiency.
§ Mr. Maddenasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proposals he has received for renewing the fleet of detector vans employed to identify those evading television licences; what would be the total cost of such a proposal ; what is the total cost of detection for the latest year for which figures are available ; which company supplies detector vans ; and who would supply any replacement vehicles.
§ Mr. Merlyn Rees:Work is at present in progress to replace the present fleet of detector vans by the end of 1981 at an estimated total cost of £600,000. The project is at the design stage and tenders have not as yet been sought for supply of the replacement fleet. The existing vans were supplied by Vosper Thornycroft Ltd. The cost in 1977–78 of operating the detector vans was approximately £1 million.