Asked by: Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of the current framework, conditions and support for film and television producers headquartered outside London, including the application of Ofcom’s regional quotas for public service broadcasters in relation to companies which have a substantive base only outside London, in enabling the commissioning of programmes from every part of the UK.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government is committed to supporting the growth of the TV and film industry across the whole of the UK. As the Secretary of State has made clear, the television sector specifically is too centralised in London and the South East. That is why the Government has called on broadcasters to be more ambitious in growing the sector in other parts of the country, in order to spread its benefits to towns and cities across the UK. DCMS is taking forward work to understand the opportunities and challenges to further growing the television industry outside of London and the South East to enable commissioning and production activity across the UK. We are committed to working with the sector to ensure the right framework, conditions and support are in place for this to happen.
All public service broadcasters are subject to regional programme making quotas, which are set and monitored by the independent media regulator Ofcom, who also produce the associated guidance. Any changes to these quotas is similarly a matter for Ofcom.
On the matter of film, the Government maintains a UK-wide funding programme, including investment in infrastructure and tax reliefs to support independent British content. We fund the British Film Institute (BFI) to support the film sector through nationwide funding and initiatives. The BFI’s ten year strategy, Screen Culture 2033, sets out its core principle to reach across the full breadth of our nation. The BFI have sought to devolve funding, share power and support networks across regions. They have been awarded £9 million to enable seven Skills Clusters across the UK to identify skills gaps, coordinate local skills training, and develop clearer pathways to long-term employment in the sector.
We support the British Film Commission’s work and our funding has supported the growth of seven geographic production hubs across the UK, by investing in infrastructure and attracting global film productions that bring inward investment into the local and national economy.
The Government recently introduced the Independent Film Tax Credit to support homegrown talent, which will mean that productions with a budget up to £15 million will be eligible for a relief of 53% on qualifying expenditure, whilst films with a budget up to £23.5 million are also eligible and the relief will be tapered. We support independent content across the nations and regions through the £28 million UK Global Screen Fund. The Chancellor recently confirmed that UK Visual Effects costs in film and high-end TV productions will receive a 5% increase in Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit from 1 April 2025, for an overall rate of 39%.
Asked by: Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they plan to measure whether the requirement for public service broadcasters to produce programmes outside London and across the nations and regions of the United Kingdom has been met; and whether they expect public service broadcasters to work towards population-based production quotas for each nation and region.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The television sector forms a critical part of the fabric of the creative industries and UK society, which is why it is important that programmes are made across the country.
The public service remit for television requires that public service broadcasters (PSBs), taken together, make an appropriate range and amount of their programmes outside the M25. It is a matter for Ofcom, the independent media regulator, to consider whether the public service remit for television has been fulfilled.
To help ensure this, Ofcom has powers to include quotas in individual PSB licences, requiring them to make a minimum proportion of their programmes, and spend a minimum proportion of their commissioning budgets, outside London. Any changes to these quotas is similarly a matter for Ofcom.
The Secretary of State has made clear that she wants broadcasters to be more ambitious in commissioning programmes from every part of the UK. The Government has committed to working with the sector to ensure the right framework, conditions and support are in place for this to happen.