§ Mr. Colin Shepherdasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will set out in the Official Report a table showing for each year since the establishment of the National Television Licence Records Office the total cost of the operation, the numbers employed, the number of successful prosecutions for failing to have a valid television licence, the sum of money recovered in fines for this offence and the total yearly revenue from television licences.
§ Mr. BrittanThe National Television Licence Records Office, which is a part of the Post Office and which acts as our agent in the administration of the television licensing system, was set up in February 1972 at the start of conversion to computer working which was completed in April 1976.
No records are kept of the money paid in fines from the conviction of persons for failing to have a valid television licence but a special survey concluded that the average fine during the first six months of this year amounted to £37 for an offence relating to a colour set and £21 for an offence relating to a monochrome set.
The available information is as follows: 431W
432W
1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 Television licence revenue (£ million) 137.6 149.0 162.9 233.7 248.0 287.3 337.4 Cost of administering the television licensing system, excluding interference investigation and the sale of television savings stamps (£ million) 9.2 11.0 14.1 17.9 18.6 19.7 22.8 (estimate) Number of staff employed: (a) National TV Licence Records Office 99 395 543 674 645 571 551 (b) Local TV Licence Enquiry Offices 2,183 1,508 1,242 1,137 998 948 901 Number of convictions secured for unlicensed use of a TV set 63,034 54,210 52,915 52,959 56,689 62,718 54,714