§ Mr. JenkinsTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (1) how many hotel television licences have been issued in each year since 1990; and what was the total revenue received by the BBC from hotel television licences for each of these years; [14566]
(2) what steps his Department is taking to prevent the evasion of television licensing regulations by the proprietors of hotels; [14568]
(3) what estimate he has made of the revenue lost to the BBC through the evasion of television licensing regulations by hotels. [14567]
§ Mr. Fisher[holding answer 10 November 1997]: Records of television licence fee revenue received from hotels are available only from 1991. Licence fee revenue from hotels since 1991 is:
Year Number of hotel licences issued (000s) Revenue (£ million) 1991–92 60 4.6 1992–93 58 4.7 1993–94 61 5.0 1994–95 65 5.5 1995–96 65 5.3 1996–97 66 6.1 Under the Broadcasting Act 1990, the BBC has been responsible for the administration of the television licensing system since April 1991. We understand from the BBC that no separate estimate is available of the cost of television licence fee evasion by the hotel trade. The BBC's agent, TV Licensing, makes use of a national hotels database, in addition to standard enforcement procedures, to ensure compliance by hotels with the licensing regulations, and new guidance issued to TV Licensing's enquiry officers includes specific instructions on hotels.