Television Licences

HC Deb 20 June 1996 vol 279 cc559-60W

Mr. Nigel Jones

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what plans she has to widen access to the £5 concessionary television licence for retired people and those living in warden-patrolled accommodation. [33114]

Mr. Sproat

The Government have no plans to extend general availability of the concessionary television licence scheme for those living in accommodation for residential care. However, we intend to correct the situation where a whole housing scheme applies for the concession but cannot qualify solely because of the ownership circumstances of a small proportion of dwellings within its boundary.

Mr. Michael Brown

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage (1) how many prosecutions there have been against people for non-payment of the television licence fee for every year since 1990; and what is the average cost to the Exchequer of these prosecutions; [33317]

(2) what estimate he has made of the gender and average income of those individuals (a) prosecuted and (b) found guilty of non-payment of the television licence fee. [33316]

Mr Sproat

According to figures provided by the BBC, the number of people prosecuted for television licence evasion in the United Kingdom for each year since 1990 was:

Year	Number of prosecutions (to nearest thousand prosecutions)
1990–91	183
1991–92	209
1992–93	232
1993–94	219
1994–95	210
1995–96	215

Information is not collected on gender or average income of those prosecuted for licence evasion, nor on the average cost to the Exchequer of prosecutions. Information on convictions for offences under the Wireless Telegraphy Acts is set out in the Home Office's annual publication "Criminal Statistics, England and Wales", supplementary table Vols. 1 and 2, which is held in the Library of the House.

Mr. Brown

To ask the Secretary of State for National Heritage what proportion of the revenue generated by the television licence fee was absorbed by the cost of its collection in the last year for which figures are available. [33327]

Mr. Sproat

In 1995–96, the costs of collecting the television licence fee comprised 5.2 per cent. of the income generated by licence sales.