Asked by: John Whittingdale (Conservative - Maldon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many over 75s have been prosecuted for licence fee evasion since 2020.
Answered by Alex Davies-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Justice)
Between the period January 2020 and September 2024 (latest available data), there have been two defendants over 75 years of age prosecuted for television license evasion.
Defendant age as reported here is taken at the point of sentencing date. Therefore, a defendant reported here may have been aged under 75 at the time of the offence.
Asked by: John Whittingdale (Conservative - Maldon)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to extend the broadcasting of court proceedings.
Answered by Dominic Raab
Broadcasting of live footage of the UK Supreme Court is already allowed. Since 2012, judgements and sentencing decisions in cases before the Court of Appeal, in both criminal and civil divisions are also broadcast.
In 2016 we conducted a not for broadcast test for judges’ sentencing remarks in eight Crown Court centres.
We will consider the lessons learnt from this test before considering next steps so to ensure that proper safeguards are introduced and that parties are treated fairly and their rights are respected.