Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had recent discussions with TV Licensing on the effectiveness of their policy on sending letters to people who have already told them they do not need a TV licence.

Ministers regularly talk to the BBC about a range of issues, including licence fee enforcement.

Under the Communications Act 2003 the BBC is responsible for the collection and enforcement of the licence fee, not the Government. Given the BBC’s independence from government it would not be appropriate for the Government to seek to intervene on operational decisions on enforcement action. Nonetheless, the Government expects the BBC to collect the licence fee in an efficient and proportionate manner, and to treat all vulnerable people with sensitivity in doing so.

The TV Licensing website advises households that have recently completed a No Licence Needed declaration to ignore letters from TV Licensing asking them to buy a TV Licence. It also states that a No Licence Needed declaration is valid for two years, and that after this time, letters will be sent unless a household reconfirms its declaration.