The number of proceedings brought to court in each financial year since April 2002 for non-payment of a television licence is shown in the following table.
April to March each year Number of proceedings brought to court 2002-03 4,893 2003-04 4,903 2004-05 5,471 2005-06 5,006 2006-07 6,532 Note: Data sourced from TV Licensing authorities.
In calendar year 2007, of 5,901 people prosecuted for non-payment of a television licence, 4,464 received fines. None were imprisoned. The corresponding information for the years prior to 2007 is not available.
Information on paid, part paid and unpaid fines from television licence convictions is not collected centrally.
It is therefore not possible to establish the total of unpaid television licence fines or the number of television licence cases that have resulted in enforcement action.
The information collected by my Department identifies the number of television licence convictions ordered to be paid and the number and amounts of court fines issued for such offences within each region.
The overall payment rate for all financial penalties in the financial year to September 2008 is 87 per cent. The payment rate excluding the value of administrative cancellations for the same period is 75 per cent.
The information requested is shown in the following tables:
£ Region 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 North East 109.6 115.4 103.1 104.9 123.5 North West 106.9 102.2 109.2 115.3 122.3 Yorkshire and Humberside 90.6 104.2 101.5 112.5 121.4 East Midlands 141.0 137.0 134.8 131.9 139.9 West Midlands 131.3 136.2 141.0 152.4 158.8 East of England 116.6 113.5 117.5 109.2 116.3 London 100.7 106.7 110.4 130.3 133.8 South East 112.9 123.4 130.2 126.4 137.0 South West 120.3 115.6 111.4 117.4 126.1 Wales 97.6 108.6 101.1 105.4 117.6 Total England and Wales 110.5 114.7 115.5 121.8 129.4 1 The TV licensing provisions of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 were replaced by new provisions in the Communications Act 2003 which came into effect on 1 April 2004. Notes: 1. These data are on the principle offence basis. 2. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. 3. When answering previous parliamentary questions on this subject issues with data from certain police force areas were highlighted, however, this will only affect the numbers sentenced; average fine amounts will still be representative. Source: OMS Analytical services.
Average number of days served 2002 4 2003 6 2004 4 2005 10 2006 4 Notes: 1. The TV licensing provisions of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 were replaced by new provisions in the Communications Act 2003 which came into effect on 1 April 2004. 2. These data are on the principle offence basis. 3. These figures have been drawn from administrative data systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large scale recording system. 4. Due to the small numbers involved these data are not presented by region. Source:OMS Analytical services.