§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will examine the(a) practicability and (b) cost of collecting TV licence fees with the council tax. [119818]
§ Janet Anderson[holding answer 20 April 2000]: We have no such plans. It is not clear what benefits would accrue from collecting the licence fee locally which would outweigh the cost of establishing and running licence fee collection arrangements in each local authority area.
§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what will be the cost of establishing the free television licence scheme for people aged over 75 years; and how much it will cost to administer in the first full year of operation. [119939]
§ Janet Anderson[holding answer 20 April 2000]: We estimate that in 2000–01, the cost of the concession will be £344 million, with an additional £23.4 million in administration costs in the first year.
§ Mr. SalmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much(a) in total and (b) in addition to currently planned expenditure it would cost in (i) the UK and (ii) Scotland to give free TV licences to households headed by someone aged over 65 years. [119983]
§ Janet Anderson[holding answer 20 April 2000]: The information requested is not immediately available. I will write to the hon. Gentleman as soon as it is available and will place a copy of the letter in the Library. However, the figure will be for the UK in its entirety as no separate figures are kept for Scotland.