§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to his answer of 25 July 2000,Official Report, column 598W, what evidence the BBC has provided to show how money is spent on administering the free television licence scheme. [134772]
§ Janet AndersonThe BBC has not yet recharged any costs incurred in administering the scheme for free licences for those aged 75 or over, as the Department of478W Social Security does not have the legal authority to reimburse the BBC until 1 November. It is the intention of the BBC to issue the first invoice to DSS within the next calendar month. All costs recharged will be supported by copy invoices of the charges incurred by the BBC.
KPMG, the BBC's external auditor, will be providing audit reports after the end of this financial year and will express an opinion on the robustness of the costs recharged, based on a sample review of the underlying documents.
§ Mr. WillettsTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many pensioners who are eligible for the concessionary television licence scheme have purchased a short-term television licence and are eligible for a refund on their existing television licence. [134659]
§ Janet AndersonOf the 2.78 million applications received by 20 October for free licences in November, 1.06 million people are due a refund on the unexpired portion of their previous television licence. 1.72 million are due no refunds because they purchased a short-term licence, or their licence was due to expire at the end of October, or adjustments were made to their easy payment scheme instalments.