Hypothecating

The BBC, after an delayed internal review, has disclosed, under Freedom of Information, the spread of "tv licences in force" by country and region. It was in a response to someone who wanted to know how much was raised from the licence fee in Wales, and how much the BBC spent in Wales.

Here's the licences in force stats for November 2011.

England 20,929,696
Northern Ireland 664,413
Scotland 2,197,338
Wales 1,252,536
Guernsey 23,661
Jersey 36,295
Isle of Man 32,293

The BBC lawyer brought in to conduct the review did some rough calculations, to account for a standard rate of evasion, and some duplication of post codes, to estimate that the licence fee in Wales generates somewhere between £175m and £182m.

This data is important - devolutionists in Wales and Scotland will argue that all funds raised in their countries should be spent there; the BBC carries most of its "overheads" - central finance, editorial policy, commissioning etc - in England.

So for Wales, where roughly £24m in total is spend on Radio Wales and Radio Cymru, and £21m on Welsh language tv, the next stage is to work out what's spent in the country for TV in English, transmission and property costs ect, and see if it adds up.