British Broadcasting Corporation Room BC2 A4 Broadcast Centre White City Wood Lane London W12 7TP
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Information Rights
bbc.co.uk/foi
bbc.co.uk/privacy
Mr P. Jones
Via email:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx 21 December 2017
Dear Mr Jones
Request for Information – RFI20171736
Thank you for your request of 25th November 2017 under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(‘the Act’) seeking the following information:
“I am making this request in accordance with section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please provide me with the most recent copy of the Capita TV Licensing Court Presenters' Manual.
Given the introduction of the Single Justice Procedure, this document is likely to have undergone
significant revision since it was previously released in response to RFI20151337. Given its previous
release, I would not expect the BBC to have any difficulties in releasing an updated version.”
Please note that “TV Licensing” is a trade mark 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 (‘Capita’). Over-the-counter services are provided by PayPoint plc (‘PayPoint’) in the
UK, and by the Post Office in the Isle of Man and Channel Islands. Marketing and printing services
are contracted to Proximity London Ltd. Media services are contracted to Media Planning Limited
trading as Havas Media UK. The BBC is a public authority in respect of its television licensing
functions and retains overall responsibility.
Please find attached as Disclosure Document 1 a current copy of the document you have
requested, which is held by Capita on the BBC’s behalf.
With reference to paragraph 7.1.2 (f), this needs to be updated and should read as fol ows:
“(f) The person is or was at the time of the offence
(i) suffering from significant mental or physical ill health, or
(ii) considered vulnerable due to their personal circumstances (which may include physical or mental ill
health, learning difficulties, domestic hostility or abuse, or exceptional and severe financial
hardship), unless there is a real possibility that the offence might be repeated.”
Certain sections of this document have been redacted. This is because we consider the
information contained therein to be exempt from disclosure under the sections of the Act
outlined below. Each instance of redaction has been annotated to indicate which exemption has
been applied. In addition, there is one instance where information designed for internal use only
has been removed.
Section 40 – Personal information
Information which constitutes personal information has been redacted. The redacted personal
information comprises the names of individuals employed by Capita who are not senior managers;
and therefore do not have a reasonable expectation that their details wil be disclosed in this
context. We are withholding this information under section 40(2) of the Act.
Personal information about living individuals is exempt under the Act if disclosure to a third party
would breach one or more principles of the Data Protection Act 1998. As people who do not
work for the BBC do not expect their details to be disclosed, to do so would be unfair; therefore,
disclosure would breach the first principle of the Data Protection Act 1998 which requires data to
be processed fairly and lawfully.
Section 31 – Law enforcement
The remainder of redacted information has been withheld under sections 31(1)(a), (b), (d) and (g)
and (2)(a) of the Act which relate to law enforcement; specifically that disclosure would, or would
be likely to, prejudice the prevention or detection of crime, the apprehension or prosecution of
offenders, the col ection of the licence fee and the BBC’s ability to discharge its public functions in
respect of such matters.
I am satisfied in terms of section 2(2) of the Act that in al the circumstances of the case, the public
interest in maintaining the exemptions outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. I
have provided further explanation of my consideration of the public interest test in the section
‘Why information has been withheld’ below.
Finally, to reiterate my response to your previous request RFI20151337, please note that the
documents listed under the heading ‘Appendix’ on page 6 of the manual do not in fact constitute
an appendix. Rather, this is a list of additional reference material which is does not form part of
the Court Presenters' Manual. For your information, the Policy for TV Licensing Prosecutions is
available on the TV Licensing website at
http://www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/foi-policies-AB17 .
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Should you wish to provide detail of this request to the media, please use the following statement
from a TV Licensing spokesperson:
“The comprehensive instructions in the Court Presenters’ Manual indicate the care taken by staff
when undertaking prosecutions. TV Licensing prosecutes only as a last resort, when all other
options have failed.“
“First time offenders are given several opportunities to avoid prosecution by buying a licence
before a case comes to court, and last year more than 115,000 cases didn’t proceed or were
withdrawn on this basis. Our Prosecution Code leaflet explains the options available and is
published on our website and given out by our officer to al evaders caught. In addition, last year,
we didn’t proceed with or withdrew more than 2600 cases because we decided it wasn’t in the
public interest to proceed.”
Why information has been withheld I am required under section 2(2) of the Act to assess whether the public interest in maintaining
the exemptions outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. At the outset, we
would like to note that it is likely to be only in the most exceptional circumstances that it will be
appropriate to prejudice the discharge of a legal duty.
The BBC accepts that there is always a public interest in transparency, accountability and public
understanding in respect of TV Licensing’s operations. In this particular case the fol owing factors
are in favour of disclosure:
1. ensuring that the licensing authority is exercising its functions appropriately and
proportionately;
2. that public funds are being appropriately applied, and specifical y that:
a.
the TV Licensing system is being efficiently run; and
b.
value for money is being obtained.
However, I consider that the above public interest factors in favour of disclosure are adequately
addressed by the fol owing:
1. The substantial amount of information which the BBC publishes about TV Licensing’s
operations in its Annual Report and Accounts; on TV Licensing’s website
(www.tvlicensing.co.uk); in TV Licensing’s Annual Review publications (
www.tvlicensing.co.uk/about/our-performance-AB6); and in the National Audit Office’s
annual Licence Fee Settlement Statement released at the end of each financial year.
2. The BBC Board is specifically tasked under Article 20(7) of the BBC Charter with ensuring
that the arrangements for the col ection of the Licence Fee are efficient, appropriate and
proportionate.
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link to page 4
3. TV Licensing’s functions are subject to external review through reports of the Comptroller
and Auditor General to the House of Commons and directions given by the Treasury.
4. The BBC is required to satisfy the NAO as to the value for money of the col ection and
enforcement arrangements and is accountable for the economy, efficiency and effectiveness
of such arrangements. NAO's most recent audit is published at
www.nao.org.uk.
5. The BBC has reduced the cost of collection from 6.2% of the total licence fee collected in
1991/2, when it took over this responsibility from the Home Office, to below 3% for the
financial year 2016/17. This demonstrates that the TV Licensing system is being efficiently
run.
In addition, the fol owing factors are in favour of withholding the information:
1. The BBC has a duty to enforce the television licensing system and it is essential that
opportunities are not provided to potential or actual evaders to escape detection or
prosecution. There is a strong public interest in ensuring that information which prejudices
law enforcement is not disclosed.
2. There is a strong public interest in the BBC being able to collect all the licence fee money
to which it is entitled to enable the BBC to provide the public with services that
encompass its public mission to inform, educate and entertain.
3. Part of keeping evasion to a minimum is maintaining uncertainty as to TV Licensing’s
enforcement practices. This uncertainty contributes to the deterrent effect which is an
important part of TV Licensing’s enforcement strategy
1.
4. There is a strong public interest in ensuring the voluntary compliance with the licence fee
regime. Without an effective deterrent to licence fee evasion, evasion would invariably
increase. This would be to the detriment of the honest majority of people who are
properly licensed, and who should not have to pay any more than is strictly necessary to
ensure the compliance of those who deliberately evade paying the licence fee.
5. An increase in the rate of licence fee evasion would lead to an increase in enforcement
costs and may lead to more prosecutions. There is a strong public interest in ensuring that
the BBC can keep enforcement costs to a minimum, because any increase in enforcement
costs wil lead to a decrease in the funds available for producing the BBC’s content.
1 The Information Commissioner has acknowledged in his Decision Notice
FS50476136 that there is a very strong
public interest in the BBC being able to enforce the television licensing system and in not disclosing information which
could impede the deterrent effect.
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Appeal Rights
If you are not satisfied that the BBC has complied with the Act in responding to your request you
have the right to an internal review by a BBC senior manager or legal adviser. Please contact us at
the address above, explaining what you would like us to review under the Act 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 SK9 5AF. Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745
(national rate) or you may wish to visit their website at
http://www.ico.org.uk/. Kind regards
Rupinder Panesar
Freedom of Information Advisor, TV Licensing Management Team
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