Television Licensing

Mr. Carmichael
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many letters Television Licensing has issued in each of the last five years threatening legal proceedings; in how many of these cases prosecutions have followed; and how many prosecutions were successful in (a) Orkney and Shetland, (b) the Highlands and Islands, (c) Scotland and (d) the UK.

Mr. Woodward
The BBC has statutory responsibility for the administration of the television licensing system and TV Licensing carries out the day to day administration under the contract to the Corporation. I have therefore asked the BBC’s Head of Revenue Management to consider the question raised by the hon. Gentleman about the number of letters issued by TV licensing which threaten legal proceedings and to write to him direct. Copies of the reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

However, the free-standing figures for the number of people proceeded against and found guilty at all courts for offences relating to television licence evasion in the last five years are in the following tables.

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|                         |2001  |2002   |2003  |2004   |2005   |
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|Orkney and Shetland      |4     |0      |0     |2      |4      |
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|The Highlands and Islands|123   |53     |86    |89     |124    |
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|Scotland                 |2,185 |1,181  |1,747 |2,606  |2,856  |
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|England and Wales        |96,470|110,158|93,896|115,623|139,194|
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|                         |2001  |2002  |2003  |2004  |2005   |
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|Orkney and Shetland      |4     |0     |0     |2     |4      |
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|The Highlands and Islands|122   |53    |83    |89    |122    |
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|Scotland                 |2,131 |1,137 |1,725 |2,594 |2,806  |
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|England and Wales        |83,738|96,587|79,855|97,752|119,341|
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The figures for Northern Ireland are not available.