Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 10
56th Report - BBC Accounts and Trust Statement 2024–25
Published 21 Nov 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee BBC Accounts and Trust Statement 2024-25 All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The BBC did not set an evasion target for 2024–25, and we asked whether there were any internal targets that had not been publicly disclosed.16 The BBC told us that it had clear internal revenue targets and a target for licences in force, which the executive team and the BBC Board monitored monthly. It explained that although it had metrics for “no licence needed”, it did not have a target for declarations as these are driven by customer behaviour.17 The BBC also stated that prosecution volumes were not a metric of success and that Capita the BBC’s main 10 Television Licence Fee Trust Statement for the Year Ending 31 March 2025, 15 July 2025, HC 1182, p. 27 11 Qq 19, 20 12 Qq 29-31 13 Q 14 14 Q 16 15 Qq 15, 35 16 Q 10; Television Licence Fee Trust Statement for the Year Ending 31 March 2025, 15 July 2025, HC 1182, p. 10 17 Qq 10, 11 8 contractor for TV licencing was not incentivised on revenue, prosecutions, or sales, with the focus instead on customer-service monitored through service-level agreements (SLAs).18 Opportunities for digitising the licence fee
From: Public Accounts Committee, 56th Report - BBC Accounts and Trust Statement 2024–25 (HC 1230), 21 November 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifty-sixth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 21 January 2026).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifty-sixth report from Session 2024-26
Published 19 January 2026.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The BBC's response agrees with some recommendations, partially agrees with others and disagrees with the recommendation to report on targets for reducing "no-licence needed" declarations and evasion.
- On licence fee collection, the BBC agrees with modernising collection and enforcement for online viewing, but says it is not "currently practical to set a firm timeline".
- It disagrees with reporting progress against targets for "no-licence needed" declarations and evasion, saying "an evasion target is not considered appropriate" and a target for NLNs would not be appropriate.
- On digital licences, the BBC agrees and "will consider the regulatory aspects and practicalities" of making an e-licence the default, with an update in the Licence Fee Trust Statement for 2025/26.
- On commercial returns, the BBC partially agrees, saying it "will ensure" BBC Commercial's overall returns including dividends are published annually in its Annual Report and Accounts, with a target date of 2026.