§ Mr. Teddy Taylorasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what discussions he has had with representatives of the hotel industry regarding the new licence arrangements on television in hotels (a) before and (b) after the announcement of the decision;
(2) what revenue he expects to be generated by the new television licence arrangements for hotels;
(3) how many television sets he expects to fall for the first time within the new arrangements for charging a licence fee on television sets in hotels;
(4) what increase in staff he expects to be necessary to monitor the new arrangements for charging a licence fee on television sets in hotels and for collecting the fees; and what the cost will be.
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§ Mr. HurdBefore the decision was taken I had two meetings with the British Hotels Restaurants and Caterers Association, and the British Federation of Hotels, Guest Houses and Self-Catering Associations and the national tourist boards were also consulted. Our proposals took account of their views.
The main purpose of the proposals is to remove a longstanding disparity between the law, which requires hotels to pay multiple fees, and the way hotels have been licensed in practice. We estimate that the changes might provide additional revenue of about £2 million per year. This figure is based on estimates of the average numbers of hotels within different size groups, and is only approximate, since we do not know exactly how many television sets are installed. No extra staff are expected to be required for enforcement, but a small number (of Post Office staff) may be necessary to deal with the issue and renewal of hotel licences.