To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many (a) fines were issued and (b) prosecutions were brought for the offence of installing or using a television receiver to watch or record television shows without a valid licence in each London borough in each of the last five years. (210281)

The administration and enforcement of the television licensing system are the responsibility of the BBC, which operates independently of Government. The day to day administration and enforcement of the licence fee regulations are undertaken by TV Licensing, which acts as agent for the corporation. Fines are issued and collected by the courts, and information on the number of offenders fined in London for offences under the Wireless Telegraphy Acts, the majority of which relate to TV licence evasion, for 2002-06 is set out in the following table. This information has been provided by the Ministry of Justice and is not available by London borough.