§ Mrs. BallardTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on anomalies within the current concessionary television licence scheme. [14435]
§ Mr. FisherThe regulations governing the concessionary scheme give rise to a number of real and perceived anomalies. However, changes at the margins of the scheme, to address such anomalies, would most likely create new ones and would do little to improve the public acceptability of the scheme. The current Agreement between the Government and the BBC specifies that the licence fee system will continue until 2002. In reviewing the arrangements for funding the BBC after the year 2002 we shall also comprehensively examine the concessionary arrangements. In the meantime, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has produced a simplified explanatory leaflet on the concessionary scheme, which explains the qualifying criteria for the concession and answers some common questions about the scheme. Copies of the leaflet have been placed in the Libraries of the House.