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1535491

registered interest
date	24/10/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Television Licences: Non-payment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether it is her policy to decriminalise the non-payment of the TV Licence fee.
tabling member constituency	York Outer
tabling member printed	Julian Sturdy
uin	69614
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 27/10/2022 answer text <p>The Government consulted on decriminalisation of TV licence evasion in 2020, and published its response in January 2021. The response to the consultation shows that a significant number of people oppose the criminal sanction with some highlighting the considerable stress and anxiety it can cause for individuals, including the most vulnerable in society, such as older people.</p><p>However, the consultation also identified that changing the sanction for TV licence evasion would have wide-ranging impacts for licence fee payers, as well as potentially leading to a significant increase in fines for those evading payment.</p><p>The Government therefore decided to keep the issue of decriminalisation under consideration.</p><p>More broadly, it is necessary to look at the BBC’s funding model as a whole to ensure it is sustainable in the long-term. The Government will set out further detail on its plans regarding the future of the licence fee in due course.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 27/10/2022 14:16:59 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	4079 label Biography information for Julian Sturdy

1523393

registered interest
date	18/10/2022
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Television Licences: Non-payment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how many people were convicted for not paying their TV license under the provisions of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 since 1992.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	65608
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 24/10/2022 answer text <p>The requirement to hold, and pay for, a TV Licence is set out in the Communications Act 2003 and the Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004.</p><p>Parliament approved the BBC assuming the role of the TV Licensing Authority in 1991, and under the Communications Act 2003, the BBC is authorised to collect and enforce the Licence Fee by law on the government's behalf.</p><p>The TV licence fee was administered under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 until the passage of the 2003 Act.</p><p>The Ministry of Justice currently publishes the number of prosecutions, convictions and sentencing outcomes for the non-payment of TV licence fees annually as part of their criminal justice statistics quarterly publications, which can be viewed here: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly</a></p><p>Figures for each year since 2005 up to 2021 are available in the Outcomes by Offence data tool, and can be found in the following tables:</p><p>2017-2021: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1076459/outcomes-by-offence-tool-2021-v2.xlsx" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1076459/outcomes-by-offence-tool-2021-v2.xlsx<br /></a>2016: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1063880/outcomes-by-offence-2020-revised.xlsx" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1063880/outcomes-by-offence-2020-revised.xlsx<br /></a>2005-2015: <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/524326/cjs-outcomes-by-offence.xlsx" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/524326/cjs-outcomes-by-offence.xlsx</a></p><p>To view the relevant figures in these tables, select ‘191A Television licence evasion’ in the Offence filter.</p><p>The number of people convicted for TV licence evasion in the years between 1992 and 2004 can be found in the attached tables. Table 1 sets out the number of convictions for television licence evasion in this period under the Communications Act 2003. Table 2 sets out convictions for offences against the Wireless Telegraphy Acts, 1949 to 1967 in the same period. While television licence evasion was an offence under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949, the figures in Table 2 may include other offences under the specified Acts.</p> answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez question first answered 24/10/2022 16:37:09 question first ministerially corrected 25/10/2022 16:09:44 answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez attachment 1 file name PQ 65608 table final.pdf title Table outlining information sources previous answer version 26685 answering member constituency Hornchurch and Upminster answering member printed Julia Lopez answering member 4647 label Biography information for Julia Lopez
tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

1522951

registered interest
date	17/10/2022
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Television Licences: Non-payment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what data his Department holds on the amount of money that magistrates’ courts in England and Wales imposed in fines for non-payment of the TV licence fee, from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2021.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	63957
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/10/2022 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice publishes figures on the number of people fined for non-payment of a TV licence, broken down by fine amounts, on an annual basis on the GOV.UK website. These figures were most recently updated in May 2022, in the ‘Sentencing Outcomes’ worksheet in the <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1076465/magistrates-court-tool-2021.xlsx" target="_blank">Magistrates' court data tool (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 17.1 MB)</a> as part of the Criminal Justice System statistics quarterly: December 2021 publication. The number of people fined for this offence can be found by filtering for HO Offence Code ‘19101 – Television licence evasion’ and breaking this down by fine amount. These figures can also be broken down by various demographics such as age and gender. The average fine amount is available on the ‘Average Amounts’ worksheet.</p><p>The penalty for TV licence evasion is a fine. A person cannot receive a custodial sentence for TV licence evasion but can be committed to prison for wilfully refusing to pay the fine or culpably neglecting to pay. In 2021, there were no admissions into prison associated with failing to pay a fine in respect of the non-payment of a TV licence in England and Wales.</p> answering member constituency Redditch answering member printed Rachel Maclean grouped question UIN 63958 question first answered 25/10/2022 15:19:28 answering member 4668 label Biography information for Rachel Maclean
tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

1353325

registered interest
date	07/09/2021
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Television Licences: Non-payment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of people prosecuted for TV licence evasion in each year since 2015 were women.
tabling member constituency	East Renfrewshire
tabling member printed	Kirsten Oswald
uin	44372
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 15/09/2021 answer text <p>The Ministry of Justice has published information on prosecutions for TV licence evasion in England and Wales, up to December 2020, available in the ‘Outcomes by Offence’ data tool, which can be found here:</p><p> </p><p><a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987715/outcomes-by-offence-2020.xlsx" target="_blank">https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/987715/outcomes-by-offence-2020.xlsx</a></p><p> </p><p>For prosecutions of women for this offence, follow the steps below.</p><ul><li>Select ‘191A Television licence evasion’ in the Offence filter</li><li>To view male and female prosecutions, click anywhere in the table to bring up the pivot table field list and drag ‘sex’ into the rows field.</li><li>The number of males prosecuted will be found on Row 24 and the number of females prosecuted will be found on Row 25.</li></ul> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 15/09/2021 16:13:46 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
tabling member	4413 label Biography information for Kirsten Oswald

1239402

registered interest
date	30/09/2020
answering body	Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Television Licences: Non-payment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to decriminalise non-payment of the TV licence fee.
tabling member constituency	Huddersfield
tabling member printed	Mr Barry Sheerman
uin	97469
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/10/2020 answer text <p>The government believes that it is right to look again at whether the criminal sanction remains appropriate for TV licence fee evasion, given ongoing concerns about whether the criminal sanction is unfair and disproportionate.</p><p>On 5 February 2020, the Government launched a public consultation on decriminalising TV licence evasion.</p><p>The consultation closed on 1 April, and received over 150,000 responses. We will listen carefully to those that have responded before setting out our next steps.</p><p> </p> answering member constituency Maldon answering member printed Mr John Whittingdale question first answered 07/10/2020 13:55:00 answering member 39 label Biography information for Sir John Whittingdale
tabling member	411 label Biography information for Mr Barry Sheerman

1238347

registered interest
date	28/09/2020
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Television Licences: Non-payment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to introduce a legal pardon for people who have a criminal conviction as a result of not paying for a television licence.
tabling member constituency	South Antrim
tabling member printed	Paul Girvan
uin	96173
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 06/10/2020 answer text <p>There are currently no plans to bring forward legislative proposals to introduce a legal pardon for people who have a criminal conviction as a result of not paying for a television licence.</p> answering member constituency Cheltenham answering member printed Alex Chalk question first answered 06/10/2020 14:56:48 answering member 4481 label Biography information for Alex Chalk
tabling member	4633 label Biography information for Paul Girvan

417576

registered interest
date	08/09/2015
answering body	Ministry of Justice
answering dept id	54
answering dept short name	Justice
answering dept sort name	Justice
hansard heading	Television Licences: Non-payment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) women and (b) men were found to be using a television without a licence by inspectors in the most recent year for which information is available; and what proportion of (i) women and (ii) men were subsequently prosecuted for a television licence offence.
tabling member constituency	Shipley
tabling member printed	Philip Davies
uin	9560
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/09/2015 answer text <p /> <p>According to TV Licensing's data, in 2014 232,290 women and 114,347 men were interviewed under caution by TV Licensing officers in the course of investigating TV licence offences.</p><p> </p><p>The number of people prosecuted for licence fee evasion in 2014 is published here: <a href="http://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/428943/cjs-outcomes-by-offence-data-tool.xls" target="_blank">www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/428943/cjs-outcomes-by-offence-data-tool.xls</a> From “offence” drop down list select 191A Television licence evasion. From “sex” drop down list select the male or female.</p><p> </p><p>In 2014 11 men and 28 women were committed to prison for non-payment of a fine where the registered fine was for non-payment of the TV Licence. The average time spent in prison was 18 days for men and 20 days for women.</p> answering member constituency South West Bedfordshire answering member printed Andrew Selous grouped question UIN 9632 question first answered 16/09/2015 10:42:03 answering member 1453 label Biography information for Andrew Selous
tabling member	1565 label Biography information for Sir Philip Davies

347719

registered interest
date	01/06/2015
answering body	Department for Culture Media and Sport
answering dept id	10
answering dept short name	Culture, Media and Sport
answering dept sort name	Culture, Media and Sport
hansard heading	Television Licences: Non-payment
house id	1
legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
question text	To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether he plans to bring forward proposals to decriminalise non-payment of the television licence fee.
tabling member constituency	Rhondda
tabling member printed	Chris Bryant
uin	524
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 09/06/2015 answer text <p>The Government is committed to a thorough review of how the licence fee is enforced. David Perry QC is leading an open, independent, and evidence-based review which is due to report to me at the end of June 2015. My Right Hon. Friend the Secretary of State will then need to consider the recommendations and how these will feed into the Charter Review process.</p> answering member constituency Wantage answering member printed Mr Edward Vaizey question first answered 09/06/2015 10:19:20 answering member 1580 label Biography information for Lord Vaizey of Didcot
tabling member	1446 label Biography information for Sir Chris Bryant