HC Deb 30 January 2001 vol 362 cc133-4W
Mr. Chope

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what his latest estimate is of the(a) number and (b) percentage of households in (i) Northern Ireland, (ii) Wales, (iii) Scotland and (iv) England that are evading payment of the television licence fee. [147825]

Janet Anderson

[holding answer 29 January 2001]: The BBC, as Licensing Authority, estimates evasion principally on a United Kingdom-wide basis and estimates of evasion by country cannot be produced on the same basis or to the same level of accuracy. All estimates relate to licensable premises rather than households. As at 31 March 2001, the latest date for which figures are available in the form requested, the estimated evasion figures were:

(a)Estimated evasion(number of licensable premises)1 (b)Estimated evasion (percentage)
Northern Ireland 112,000 18.2
Wales 74,000 6.1
Scotland 172,000 7.8
England 923,000 4.8
1 Estimates calculated by applying the estimated percentage evasion rate to the estimated number of licensable premises

The statistical model used to estimate the evasion rate for the UK as a whole is currently under review and the Government aim to adopt the revised model in the near future.