Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to invest in the regional film industry.

My department continues to work closely with the British Film Institute (BFI) and the Devolved Administrations to ensure a wide range of funding and initiatives are available to support the film industry across the UK. This includes the UK-wide screen sector tax reliefs, the £500 million Production Restart Scheme, and the UK Global Screen Fund which will invest nearly £30 million in the international growth of independent screen companies across the UK.

The BFI has invested £64 million of National Lottery funding outside of London and the South East region between 2017/18 and 2021/22 across the UK. This support ranges from audience and talent development programmes, run in conjunction with regional Film Hubs and national screen agencies across the UK, through to the National Cluster Growth Fund, which supports the development of high potential screen clusters outside of London and the South East - such as Screen Yorkshire and Create Central in the West Midlands. The BFI is currently developing its National Lottery strategy for the next ten years and is consulting stakeholders and the public as it develops its objectives, outcomes, and programmes to ensure it delivers maximum impact for both audiences and industry across the UK.

The Government also works closely with the British Film Commission (BFC), a national body predominantly funded by DCMS, which also supports and promotes UK-wide film and high-end television production and works in close partnership with the national and regional screen agencies.