Television Licence Evasion Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
Lord Flight
Main Page: Lord Flight (Conservative - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Flight's debates with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport
(3 years, 10 months ago)
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Baroness Barran (Con)
Perhaps it would help if I quote directly from the Government’s response to the consultation in relation to the noble Lord’s valid and important point. We said that:
“The government considers that a future decision on decriminalising TV licence evasion would benefit from a clearer picture on the wider drivers of BBC income in the face of market and other trends.”
So, we need a rounded picture of those issues on which to take a decision.
Lord Flight (Con) [V]
Do the Government agree that legislation decriminalising TV licence evasion would, in practice, render paying for a licence optional and constitute a halfway house towards getting rid of the licence?
Baroness Barran (Con)
I do not entirely agree with my noble friend but he is right that it risks sending the wrong signal to the very small minority who seek to evade payment. We feel that it is more constructive to look at ways in which the BBC can support those on low incomes to pay the licence fee.