Television Licence Evasion

Baroness Hoey Excerpts

Tuesday 26th January 2021 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Hoey]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to introduce legislation to decriminalise television licence evasion.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Barran) (Con)]

My Lords, the Government’s response to the consultation states that

“decriminalisation will remain under active consideration while more work is undertaken to understand the impact of alternative enforcement schemes.”

We remain concerned that a criminal sanction for TV licence evasion is increasingly disproportionate and unfair in a modern public service broadcasting system. However, we recognise that changing the sanction would have wide-ranging impacts for licence fee payers and has the potential for significantly higher fines and costs for the small minority who evade.

[Baroness Hoey (Non-Afl)]

My Lords, I am glad that the Minister repeated what the Secretary of State said last week—that he remained

“concerned that a criminal sanction for TV licence evasion is increasingly disproportionate and unfair in a modern public service broadcasting system.”—[Official Report, Commons, 21/1/20; col. 48WS.]

How then can the Minister possibly justify the continued harassment, intimidation and bullying by Capita of the many elderly, vulnerable households just trying to survive in the midst of a pandemic? Is it not time that the Government recognised that older people are turning off the BBC, younger people have never even turned it on, and the licence fee itself represents a bygone age and should be abolished and replaced by a choice-based alternative?