Memorandum submitted by the British Broadcasting
Corporation
This memorandum updates the C&AG's Report:
The BBC: Collecting the television licence fee (HC 821,
Session 2001-02).
| Reference | Material in Report
| Update |
| Paragraph 1, page 1 | Number of licences issued
| 23.7 million licences in 2001-02 |
| Paragraph 1, page 1 | Licence fee income received
| £2,533 million in 2001-02 |
| Paragraph 1, page 1 | Revenue uncollected through evasion (per old evasion model)
| Under the new evasion model which has been recently completed the estimate of revenue uncollected through evasion is £218 million at March 2002, equivalent to an evasion rate of 7.9%
|
| Note: The old model does not continue beyond 2001. However, for the purposes of comparison, the BBC estimates that the evasion rate in 2001-02, calculated on the same basis as the original model, would be between 4.0 and 4.5%.
|
| Paragraph 6, page 2 | Total cost of collecting the licence
| £95.4 million in 2001-02 (including £20 million compensation from Consignia)
|
| Paragraph 6, page 2 | Cost of collection as percentage of revenue collected
| 3.8% in 2001-02 |
| Paragraph 8, page 3 | Evasion rate (new model)
| The new evasion model which has been recently completed and is due to be published shortly shows evasion has fallen again in 2001-02 down from 8.8% at the beginning of the year to 7.9% at March 2002
|
| Figure 17, page 31 | The outcome of enquiry officers's visits
| In 2001-02 Enquiry Officers made 3.5 million visits and caught 459,000 suspected evaders (13.1% of visits)
On 2.2 million of the visits made (62.7%) the occupier was not at home or did not answer the door
On 594,000 visits (17%) the property was vacant or under construction
On 63,000 visits (1.8%) the property did not exist
On 14,000 visits (0.4%) the householder had moved or gone away
On 71,000 visits (2%) the property was properly licensed
On 44,000 visits (1.3%) there was confirmation of no set or that there was a monochrome set as claimed
On 59,000 visits (1.7%) there was no confirmation that there was no set or that there was a monochrome set as claimed
|
This figure revises Figure 11 in the NAO Report to show the
estimated evasion rate in different parts of the United Kingdom
at March 2001 and March 2002 calculated using the revised evasion
model:
| Country | Evasion rate at
March 2002
| Evasion rate at
March 2001
|
| England | 7.3%
| 8.1% |
| Scotland | 9.8%
| 11.4% |
| Northern Ireland | 20.0%
| 21.2% |
| Wales | 7.9%
| 9.1% |
| United Kingdom (total) | 7.9%
| 8.8% |
|
