James Trice
[FOI #629 email]
23 June 2008
Dear Mr Trice,
Freedom of information request – RFI 20080558
Thank you for your request received by the BBC on 27 May 2008
seeking further information about
TV Licensing. Your request is being dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the
Act”).
Please note that “TV Licensing” is a trading name used by companies contracted by the BBC to
administer the collection of television licence fees and enforcement of the television licensing
system. The majority of the administration of TV Licensing is contracted to Capita Business
Services Ltd (which undertakes the majority of the administration of the TV Licensing system), with
the administration of our cash related payment schemes contracted to Revenues Management
Services Ltd (RMS). PayPoint Network Ltd and PayPoint Collections Ltd are contracted to provide
over-the-counter services. The marketing and public relations activities are contracted to the AMV
Consortium. The consortium is made up of the following four companies: Abbott Mead Vickers
BBDO Ltd, Fishburn Hedges Boys Williams Limited, PHD Media Limited and Proximity London Ltd.
The BBC is a public authority in respect of its television licensing functions and retains overall
responsibility.
In your request you asked the following:
I would like to see a breakdown of the following report:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/206/response/626/attach/4/RFI20080413%20-
%20TV%20Licensing%20costs%20of%20collection.pdf
By countries of UK (England , Wales, Scotland, N Ireland)
In accordance with section 1(1) of the Act, the BBC is able to confirm that we do not hold the
information you have requested, specifically a version of the above report (
TV Licensing Costs of
Collection) which is broken down by nation. This is because some of the information contained
within it cannot be broken down in this way.
For example, the BBC does not collate figures for licence fee revenue broken down by nation.
This is because in order to calculate these figures, it would be necessary to commission a bespoke
report analysing all the postcodes on the TV Licensing database and their associated licence
payments. I estimate that carrying out the activity to collate figures for licence fee revenue broken
down by nation would take more than two and a half days. Under section 12 of the Act, we are
allowed to refuse to handle the request if it would exceed the appropriate limit. The appropriate
limit has been set by the Regulations (SI 2004/3244) as being £450 (equivalent to two and a half
days work, at an hourly rate of £25).
It is likely that breaking down much of the other information in the table by nation, such as postage
costs and call centre costs, would require similar activity and hence would similarly exceed the
appropriate limit.
I can, however, provide you with the figures for licences in force (the 9th line of the table) broken
down by nation. The numbers of licences issued the UK as a whole as at 31 March 2008 is as
follows:
Region
Total licences in force (m)
England 20.574
Northern Ireland
0.635
Scotland 2.195
Wales 1.242
Channel Islands
0.093
Total
24.740
Please note these statistics are approximations of the numbers of licences in force and are not
exact. They also do not include licences held by premises which are classed as Accommodation
for Residential Care (ARC). This is because a detailed breakdown of ARC or other licences by
nation is not held.
Appeal rights
If you are not satisfied with this response you have the right to an internal review by a BBC senior
manager or legal adviser. Please contact us at the address provided, explaining what you would
like us to review and including your reference number.
If you are not satisfied with the internal
review, you can appeal to the Information Commissioner.
The contact details are: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, telephone 01625 545 700 or see http://www.ico.gov.uk/
I hope this response is helpful.
Yours sincerely,
Natalie Saunderson
Policy Adviser
BBC TV Licensing Management Team
