Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much funding her Department has given to the British Film Institute since 2010.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The government is committed to the continued success of the film and high end TV (HETV) sectors. As an Arms-Length Body (ALB), the British Film Institute (BFI) plays a critical role in leading the UK’s screen sectors, helping drive economic growth and create jobs while supporting cultural and place-based objectives.
DCMS has provided nearly £400 million of funding in total to the BFI since 2010. The BFI is also a National Lottery Distributor and also has its own self-generated income. More information on the BFI’s funding, including from DCMS, going back to 1998/99 can be found in the BFI’s published accounts via: https://www.bfi.org.uk/strategy-policy/annual-review-management-agreement.
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many grants were made to local newspapers under the Future News Fund pilot; and what the value was of each grant.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Future News Fund sought to invest in new technological prototypes, start-ups and innovative business models to explore new ways of sustaining the industry in this changing landscape. In 2019, Government invested £2 million in the Future News Fund, which received 178 applications. Grants were awarded to 19 projects, ranging from funding to support the trial of a digital wallet model where publishers were able to offer the option to readers to pay for news on a casual basis, to funding to a local news publisher to build a new system to involve members and the local community in the reporting of local news.
It was designed to be open to as wide a range of innovations as possible, including those from existing news publishers. The government was not involved in deciding which organisations should receive funding. Nesta made these decisions independently with advice from industry experts. Nesta’s evaluation of the Fund was completed in 2020, and can be found alongside further information on the grantees here: https://www.nesta.org.uk/project/future-news-fund/
Asked by: Andy Carter (Conservative - Warrington South)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
What steps her Department is taking to support further growth of the creative industries in the North West.
Answered by Nigel Adams
Government and industry launched a Sector Deal for the Creative Industries in 2018, with more than £150m of funding. This aims to unlock growth for creative businesses across the country, and the North West benefits from a number of programmes within the Sector Deal.
These include a Creative Scale Up programme to help small creative businesses access the finance they need to grow and is launching today in the Manchester region.