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Television licences

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Television licences (358)

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The government has launched the BBC charter review. This will examine the BBC's funding model and licence fee collection.

Type
Commons Briefing papers
Date
16 July 2026
Reference
SN06860
Member
Christopher Chope (Conservative)
Type
Presentation bills
Date
22 June 2026
Reference
Bill 72 2026-27
House
House of Commons

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to decriminalise non-payment of the BBC licence fee.

Asked by
Rupert Lowe (Reform UK)
Answering body
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Date
16 December 2024
Reference
19131
House
House of Commons

To ask His Majesty's Government how many criminal prosecutions for non-payment of the BBC licence fee have been undertaken over the past 12 months; and whether they intend to review whether non-payment should be a criminal offence.

Asked by
Lord Truscott (Non-affiliated)
Answering body
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Date
14 November 2024
Reference
HL2230
House
House of Lords

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussion she had with the BBC on decriminalising non-payment of the TV license fee.

Asked by
Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party)
Answering body
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Date
6 November 2024
Reference
11864
House
House of Commons
Member
Christopher Chope (Conservative)
Type
Presentation bills
Date
21 October 2024
Reference
Bill 100 2024-26
House
House of Commons

I thank the right hon. Member for raising this important issue. I am deeply concerned by the number of cases that have been brought to my attention since taking office of women who have fallen foul of this practice. I have personally had discussions with the BBC leadership about that. Obviously, the charter review, which we intend to start early next year, offers us an opportunity to look at these issues in the round.

Answered by
Lisa Nandy (Labour)
Answering body
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Type
Oral answers to questions
Date
17 October 2024
Reference
754 c972
House
House of Commons

Women are those most often criminalised for non-payment of the licence fee. The BBC charter review offers an opportunity for the Government to look at this issue again. Will the Government consider decriminalising non-payment of the licence fee?

Asked by
Richard Holden (Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Topical questions - Supplementary
Status
Answered
Date
17 October 2024
Reference
754 c971
House
House of Commons

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make it her policy to decriminalise non-payment of the television licence fee.

Asked by
John Hayes (Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Date
14 October 2024
Reference
5868
House
House of Commons
Member
Christopher Chope (Conservative)
Type
Presentation bills
Date
11 December 2023
Reference
Bill 126 2023-24
House
House of Commons

With the leave of the House, I would like to thank my right hon. Friend the Minister for his comprehensive response to this debate, based on his wide knowledge and experience. It was interesting to see the contrast between his command of this subject and the relatively light touch applied...

Member
Christopher Chope (Conservative)
Type
Proceeding contributions
Date
20 October 2023
Reference
738 cc529-530
House
House of Commons

Did my hon. Friend note that the Minister said that he did not agree with decriminalising it for a particular age group, and that the policy should be the same for all age groups? Given that my hon. Friend was uncharacteristically modest with his proposal in this Bill to just...

Member
Philip Davies (Conservative)
Type
Proceeding contributions
Date
20 October 2023
Reference
738 c530
House
House of Commons

My hon. Friend makes an excellent suggestion. It was only because I sometimes believe in salami slicing. I thought that we would start off with the over-75s—that is without declaring any personal interest in this. As with the previous debates, this is a subject that will continue to be of...

Member
Christopher Chope (Conservative)
Type
Proceeding contributions
Date
20 October 2023
Reference
738 c530
House
House of Commons

I come to this debate slightly late, as I am actually responding to a debate that took place almost a year ago to the day. In that debate, my hon. Friend the Member for Christchurch (Sir Christopher Chope) made his points powerfully but succinctly: he had just 16 minutes to...

Member
John Whittingdale (Conservative)
Type
Proceeding contributions
Date
20 October 2023
Reference
738 cc519-520
House
House of Commons

If the BBC is as wonderful and magnificent as my right hon. Friend is telling us, and it provides such wonderful value for money, as the BBC keeps telling us, why does it need the criminal law to force people to pay for it?

Member
Philip Davies (Conservative)
Type
Proceeding contributions
Date
20 October 2023
Reference
738 c520
House
House of Commons

If my hon. Friend will forgive me, that is a point I intend to address in some substance a little later on. He makes an argument that many have made, and I understand it. The quality of the content of the BBC is considerable, although I—like everybody in this House,...

Member
John Whittingdale (Conservative)
Type
Proceeding contributions
Date
20 October 2023
Reference
738 c520
House
House of Commons

Does the Minister recall that in 2014, while serving on the Committee considering the Deregulation Bill, I managed to insert a new clause that would have led to the decriminalisation of non-payment of the TV licence? Does he also recall that during charter renewal, the then Chancellor, George Osborne, negotiated...

Member
Andrew Bridgen (The Reclaim Party)
Type
Proceeding contributions
Date
20 October 2023
Reference
738 c520
House
House of Commons

I recall it very well because I was the Secretary of State at the time, so I was quite involved in that particular negotiation.

To return to the point of the licence fee, the licence fee pays for, overwhelmingly, the BBC’s non-commercial activities. It raises something like £3.74 billion in public...

Member
John Whittingdale (Conservative)
Type
Proceeding contributions
Date
20 October 2023
Reference
738 c520
House
House of Commons

As the Minister was then Secretary of State, he will recall that the BBC wanted people to need a licence to watch all other media online, including the Sky player, the ITV player and the Channel 4 player. Does he remember that we had to defeat that?

Member
Andrew Bridgen (The Reclaim Party)
Type
Proceeding contributions
Date
20 October 2023
Reference
738 c520
House
House of Commons

It has always been the case that the licence fee is required to watch live TV. It does not extend to the other things, however much some people might suggest it should. That has led to an issue that I will go on to talk about: the challenge to the...

Member
John Whittingdale (Conservative)
Type
Proceeding contributions
Date
20 October 2023
Reference
738 cc520-2
House
House of Commons