Mike Kane

At the heart of the British Film Institute’s ten year strategy, Screen Culture 2033, is a core principle for the work of the BFI to reach across the UK, so that everyone across the regions and all four nations can experience, create and benefit from screen culture.

The below table has been extracted from data that government publishes on identifiable expenditure in the regions and nations of the UK.

It shows all expenditure in 2021/22 prices, to provide a more accurate picture accounting for inflation.

BFI Country and Region Spend 2019-2022; 2021-22 prices

Whilst BFI spending in London and the South East accounts for almost 36% of its total spending over 2019-22, this is due in part to the relatively high proportion of the industry based in London and the South East (70%) and also, due to the established method of recording awards based on applicant postcode, does not capture the broader outputs and widespread impact of organisations based in London and the South East but delivering on a regional or UK-wide basis.

For example, BFI National Lottery distribution awards - such as the award which supported Parasite to reach 1.6 million people across the UK - are used to give audiences everywhere the chance to enjoy the widest possible range of films; overall, titles supported by distribution awards have generated 4.5 million admissions across every corner of the UK over the course of 2017-2022. The Light Cinema Co. received £3 million from the Culture Recovery Fund and, whilst its head office is in London, the award was used to support its 10 cinemas, 7 of which are in the North of England. And ‘Into Film’, a London-based organisation who received £24 million from the BFI over 2017-2022, used this funding to deliver Film Clubs in UK schools, reaching in the last year alone more than 3 million children at over 6,500 schools across the UK. Through its National Lottery Funding Plan, the BFI will be devolving even more funding to organisations across the regions and nations through its National Lottery Skills Clusters Fund, which will invest £9 million in 6-7 clusters across the UK to lead on skills and training in their area, making sure people from a wide range of places have the opportunity to get into the industry. The BFI also funds a network of organisations across the UK - including in Nottingham, Birmingham, Sheffield and Manchester - to lead audience and talent development work in their respective regions and nations, with £15.2 million to be awarded to 11 partner organisations over the next three years.

The National Security Council (NSC) is a committee of Cabinet and is bound by the same rules and conventions as all Cabinet Committees. Information about discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its Committees are not normally publicly shared.

On 1 October 2020, the Government passed the National Minimum Wage (Offshore Employment) (Amendment) Order 2020 that extended the NMW to include an individual who ordinarily works in the territorial waters of the United Kingdom or in the United Kingdom section of the continental shelf.

The Government’s “Calculating the Minimum Wage” guidance has been updated to take account of these changes and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/calculating-the-minimum-wage/calculating-the-minimum-wage#seafarers.

We are currently drafting further guidance on this issue for employers and seafarers. We will publish this in due course, and will consult unions and other stakeholders ahead of publication.

The Department works closely with the Department for Transport on this matter, as evidenced by the joint appearance by ministers from both departments at a recent roundtable organised by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers.

On 1 October 2020, the Government passed the National Minimum Wage (Offshore Employment) (Amendment) Order 2020 that extended the NMW to include an individual who ordinarily works in the territorial waters of the United Kingdom or in the United Kingdom section of the continental shelf.

The Government’s “Calculating the Minimum Wage” guidance has been updated to take account of these changes and can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/calculating-the-minimum-wage/calculating-the-minimum-wage#seafarers.

We are currently drafting further guidance on this issue for employers and seafarers. We will publish this in due course, and will consult unions and other stakeholders ahead of publication.

The Department works closely with the Department for Transport on this matter, as evidenced by the joint appearance by ministers from both departments at a recent roundtable organised by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers.

The Short Film Fund is delivered centrally by the BFI, rather than through its five regional hubs, including Film Hub North. The Short Film Fund supports projects with directors based in England and is run in partnership with BFI NETWORK Talent Executives, who work with filmmakers on the delivery of funded projects. Regional hubs make recommendations to the BFI on which projects should receive support.

Film Hub North supports regional producers in a variety of other ways. This includes the Creative Producer Lab in partnership with Film Hub Midlands, which has supported over 50 producers since 2019, including 34 based in the North of England.

Through a range of measures, Film Hub North has helped to support 73 short film production awards over the period FY 2018/19 - FY 2022/23. The BFI has identified at least nine producers who were supported by Film Hub North and received funding from the BFI NETWORK Short Film Fund, who then applied for and received further support via either the BFI National Lottery development and/or production funds for a feature film. This includes producers based across the North East, North West and Yorkshire and Humberside. However, this does not capture the full range of benefits available to producers in the North through the BFI NETWORK. Additionally, Short Film Fund funding recommendations are made based on the location of the director, not the producer, so Northern producers may receive support through other regional hubs.

Moreover, with regards to the BFI supporting producers to transition from short films to feature films: where producers choose to take this step, it can often take longer than five years, for a variety of reasons, with many filmmakers needing more than one funded short film before they gain production funding for a feature film.

The British Film Institute’s (BFI) ten year strategy, Screen Culture 2033, sets out the core principle for the work of the BFI to reach across all of our nation.

The below table sets out the number of applications to the BFI for both their National Lottery funding and their government-provided Grant-in-Aid funding, broken down by region, in the past three years (2019-2022). The table also sets out the number of awards given over each of those years, also broken down by region based on beneficiary location (drawn from postcode data, in accordance with the methodology agreed with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport).

To note, given the assessment process, applications may be made in one year, and processed or awarded in the following year. Therefore, a direct correlation cannot be established between the applications and awards made in any single year.

Extrapolated from the figures in the above table, the below table further provides the proportion of applications and awards over the three years 2019 - 2022, broken down per region.

In total, 25 local authorities submitted a request to my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, to move schools block funding to high needs block funding. All schools block movement requests are reviewed against the criteria set out in paragraphs 261-286 of the ‘Schools revenue funding operational guide: 2020 to 2021’, which is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pre-16-schools-funding-local-authority-guidance-for-2020-to-2021.

Of these 25 requests, the following were granted permission to move funding from the schools block to the high needs block:

• no requests to move up to 0.50%;
• one request, from Kent County Council, to move between 0.51% and 1%; and
• two requests, from Rotherham and South Gloucestershire local authorities, to move 1%.

The remaining 22 requests to move funding away from the schools block were denied.

All decisions have been made as advised in Table A.

The Department does not collect or record information about schools’ use of restraint or restrictive practices, and does not intend to introduce mandatory reporting at this time. We trust schools to use their judgement in recording incidents involving force and, when serious incidents occur, we would expect schools to record the incident and let the parents know.

Schools need to be safe and calm environments with effective behaviour management policies and approaches that meet the needs of all pupils, including those with mental health difficulties, special educational needs or disabilities.

At times, it may be necessary to use reasonable force to restrain a pupil – for example, to break up a fight in order to protect teachers and other pupils. Wherever possible, restraint and restrictive intervention should be avoided; and proactive, preventative, non-restrictive approaches adopted in respect of behaviour that challenges.

In June 2019, the Department for Health & Social Care and Department for Education jointly published non-statutory guidance on reducing restraint and restrictive intervention in health and social care services and special education settings. This guidance aims to help settings adopt a preventative approach to supporting children and young people with learning disabilities, autistic spectrum conditions and mental health difficulties.

The Department does not collect or record information about schools’ use of restraint or restrictive practices, and does not intend to introduce mandatory reporting at this time. We trust schools to use their judgement in recording incidents involving force and, when serious incidents occur, we would expect schools to record the incident and let the parents know.

Schools need to be safe and calm environments with effective behaviour management policies and approaches that meet the needs of all pupils, including those with mental health difficulties, special educational needs or disabilities.

At times, it may be necessary to use reasonable force to restrain a pupil – for example, to break up a fight in order to protect teachers and other pupils. Wherever possible, restraint and restrictive intervention should be avoided; and proactive, preventative, non-restrictive approaches adopted in respect of behaviour that challenges.

In June 2019, the Department for Health & Social Care and Department for Education jointly published non-statutory guidance on reducing restraint and restrictive intervention in health and social care services and special education settings. This guidance aims to help settings adopt a preventative approach to supporting children and young people with learning disabilities, autistic spectrum conditions and mental health difficulties.

In previous years, school-level allocations for local authority maintained schools and academies have been published as transparency statistics in late autumn, but not to a fixed schedule.

This year we will be publishing the individual school-level school’s block allocations, covering allocations for 2019-20, in the Department’s new school funding official statistics report on 30 January 2020.

The Department already publishes detailed information on school funding, including full details of individual grant funding allocations issued to schools and local authorities, but we recognise that this information can be hard to understand and navigate. The aim of this new official statistics report is to help users’ understanding of this issue, and we are including the 2019-20 school-level allocations in that report.

This dataset will include details of more grants than in previous years, giving a fuller picture of school-level funding for the year.

The Government has introduced an unprecedented package of support for businesses that are required to close or which are severely affected by the restrictions put in place to tackle Covid-19, protect the NHS and save lives.  The Government is working closely with local authorities in England to ensure that funding can get to the right places as quickly as possible.  Business premises that are required by law to close during the current period of national restrictions since 5th January can access grants of up to £4,500 per 6 weeks of closure (Local Restrictions Support Grant (Closed)). In addition, each closed business will be eligible for a one-off payment of up to £9,000 to help them through Spring. This is the Closed Business Lockdown Payment.

Local authorities have been allocated a further £500m in discretionary funding via the Additional Restrictions Grant to support businesses that are significantly impacted by the restrictions even though not required to close.  This is in addition to £1.1bn already allocated in November 2020.  Local authorities have discretion to use this funding to support businesses in the way they see fit.  For example, this could include businesses which supply the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors, or businesses in the events sector or businesses outside the business rates system, which are effectively forced to close such as market traders.

In addition the British Horse Society has issued advice for equestrian businesses during this time, including setting out loans and grants that businesses may be eligible for (www.bhs.org.uk/advice-and-information/coronavirus-covid-19/business-support-resources).

Whilst riding centres and livery yards are required to close to the general public this does not prevent access to facilities where necessary for animal welfare purposes. Employees may continue to go to work there if they are unable to work from home. Members of the public can continue to visit these establishments if this is where their horse is kept and if this is necessary in order to care for their horse. Further information on this has been distributed to all local authorities via the Office for Product Safety and Standards.

As of 31st January, there are 75 apprentices employed by the Department for International Trade (DIT) and UK Export Finance (UKEF). This is 3.2% of the total staff employed by DIT and UKEF.

The Network North paper published by the Department for Transport on 4 October 2023 sets out that we will appoint a development company, separate from HS2 Ltd, to manage the delivery of this project. We will also take on the lessons of success stories such as Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms, which secured £9 billion of private sector investment and thousands of homes. So we will harness the future growth that the station will unleash to support its development, to ensure we get the best possible value for the British taxpayer - and ensure that funding is underpinned by contributions from those people and businesses its development supports.

Following the rephasing of works at Euston announced in March 2023, work commenced on developing an affordable and deliverable scheme for the HS2 Euston Station including looking at options to reduce the number of platforms to match expected levels of service over time. This will continue under the new arrangements for Euston announced as part of Network North.

Following the rephasing of works at Euston announced in March 2023, work commenced on developing an affordable and deliverable scheme for the HS2 Euston Station including looking at options to reduce the number of platforms to match expected levels of service over time. This will continue under the new arrangements for Euston announced as part of Network North.

The recent public body review of the CAA made 24 recommendations including in relation to enforcement. DfT officials discuss implementing these recommendations with the CAA regularly. The Department published its response to the Aviation Consumer Policy Reform consultation on 27 June 2023, which included a commitment to legislate when parliamentary time allows to provide the CAA with additional administrative powers. The Department will work closely with the CAA on the design of those powers to make sure they are effective and proportionate. A review of safety enforcement powers last took place in 2022; further work is needed to evaluate properly and fully the available options and to consider any additional engagement or consultation needed to understand the implications of any changes to current policy. Any changes agreed will be implemented as part of our joint DfT CAA rulemaking programme.

The Department has been clear with industry partners that they should ensure passengers receive the best possible service and are provided with the support they need in the event of disruption.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is responsible for ensuring that airlines are meeting their obligations under the legislation that sets out air passenger rights. It continues to monitor industry performance, and will take action where required.

It is very important that passengers understand their rights. This is why the Department published the Aviation Passenger Charter in July 2022. The Charter provides passengers with information needed for each stage of their journey, including if something goes wrong.