20 December 2002
Commenting on a PAC report, Collecting the television licence fee, published on December 18, Leigh said the BBC's argument was that scrutiny by the auditor general and the PAC 'would interfere with editorial independence'.
He went on: 'This argument does not stand up. We examine financial management at universities without compromising academic freedom. The general public pay £2bn each year in licence fees and have the right to independent assurance that their money is used well.'
He described the fact that the auditor general's right of access was limited to the collection of the licence fee as 'a significant anomaly in public accountability'.
The report found that the BBC had made good progress in reducing the licence fee evasion rate from an estimated 12.6% in 1990/91 to 7.9% in 2001/02. But there were still 2 million evaders costing the BBC more than £200m a year.
The PAC recommended better targeting of visits by inquiry officers. They made 3.5 million visits in 2001/02 and caught 459,000 suspected evaders. But they also visited 657,000 properties that were vacant and 71,000 that were already licensed.
PFdec2002
