Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking in addition to the Film Tax Relief scheme to promote the production of independent British films.

In 2013-14, 390 claims for film tax relief were paid for a total amount of £220 million, supporting 327 films made in the UK. The costs and number of claims for each of the last 5 years are shown below. HMRC do not keep statistics of claims for film tax relief which are refused.

These statistics can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/405783/FTR_Monitoring_Summary_July_2014.pdf

The relief has been successful in supporting film production in the UK. According to the BFI, UK expenditure on features that commenced principal photography in 2014 was £1,471 million, up from £1,093 million in 2013. In addition to the tax reliefs, the government supports the production of independent British films through a number of other measures, including through the Skills Investment Fund, the Employer Ownership of Skills pilot and the government’s strategic agency for film, the BFI.

The government regularly consults members of the Creative Industries, including on film tax relief. Respondents to the most recent consultation on the scheme in 2013 can be found in the consultation response document: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/264920/PU1603_Visual_effects_summary_of_responses.pdf