The UK government has ruled out a return to Creative Europe or the introduction of a streamer levy in its formal response to the culture, media and sport committee’s recommendations from its inquiry into film and high-end TV (HETV).
“The government has reset our relationship with our European neighbours. We want to use our strengthened ties to deliver a long-term UK-EU strategic partnership to improve lives and bolster prosperity, including within the arts and creative sectors,” said the governmemt’s written response, published today (July 3).
The government confirmed it does ”not have any plans to rejoin Creative Europe”.
However it pointed to the scaled-up support it has provided to the UK Global Screen Fund (UKGSF) – for which it has increased funding from £7m per year to £18m as part of a £75m package from the Creative Industries Sector Plan – as a way in which the government is looking to support UK independent screen content in reaching international audiences.
Similarly, the government has no plans to introduce a 5% levy on the UK subscriber revenues of subscription video-on-demand (SVoD) platforms to create a cultural fund administered by the British Film Institute (BFI) to support local HETV production.
Instead, it said the aim is to “support a mixed ecology” in the local UK sector and not to deter inward investment.
However, it pointed again towards the Creative Industries Sector Plan as evidence of plans to bolster the homegrown UK production sector, “by tackling barriers to accessing finance domestically, including through increased support from public finance institutions such as the British Business Bank, increasing the pool of debt and equity finance available to the creative industries”.
The British Business Bank has committed an additional £4bn to support investment and growth in the government’s eight target sectors for growth, which includes the creative sector.
On tax credits, the government’s response was quiet on directly addressing calls for an enhanced high-end TV (HETV) tax credit for a certain level of UK production. It said: “We will continue to work with stakeholders to ensure the continued effectiveness of AVEC [tax] reliefs.”
It denied the inquiry’s request for the government to benchmark the value and eligibility criteria of the UK’s film and HETV tax incentives against those of other countries twice a year, stating: “Government benchmarking global incentives every six months would be a disproportionate exercise, not least because what attracts filmmakers to the UK is much broader than just our competitive tax incentives, with government investment in infrastructure, funding to attract inward investment, and support for skills development also contributing to our overall competitiveness.”
It also ruled out the call for productions claiming AVEC to report a breakdown of their spending across the nations and regions. “One of the major attractions of the UK’s tax incentives, beyond their competitiveness, is the ease, simplicity and consistency of the process,” it said.
A proposed cut to VAT on cultural events, including cinema tickets, was rejected. “VAT reliefs can add complexity and administrative cost to the tax system and create opportunities for non-compliance,” government said.
On the suggestion the roles of British Film Commission (BFC) CEO and Film London CEO – currently both held by Adrian Wootton – be split out the next time contracts are negotiated or roles are advertised, to stop the industry’s London-centric bias, the response said, “We will keep arrangements for the BFC under review,” but did not commit to a clear divide.
Skills training and protections for freelancers
On skills, there will be no statutory requirement for the entire film and HETV production industry to report their spending on skills and training as a percentage of their production budgets every financial year. The response said teh government is in the process of exploring the inquiry’s suggestion of portable apprenticeships across multiple employers, in keeping with the realities of the film and TV landscape. The government confirmed it is working with Skills England on refining the apprenticeship and skill offering in the creative sectors.
To support the interests of the largely freelance workforce, the government has committed to appoint a creative freelance champion to advocate for the sector’s freelancers within government, with a champion to be appointed this year. The government has no plans to introduce a guaranteed basic income for creative freelancers, or minimum hourly wage over and above the national minimum wage.
The committee’s call for the government to link any future public funding for ScreenSkills to specific, measurable outcomes was agreed with by government, who noted: “Under its new five-year strategy, ScreenSkills is already delivering new work including its comprehensive research piece on the screen workforce.”
CIISA – the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA) – is an industry-backed body, however, is still in need of a long-term funding plan. The inquiry had suggested: “All parts of the creative industries under CIISA’s remit should commit to unconditional, long-term funding within six months. In the meantime, the government should explore all options for funding CIISA in case the industry does not deliver a voluntary solution.
“If linking eligibility for Audio-Visual Expenditure Credits with support for CIISA is too complex and will potentially deter inward investment, industries under CIISA’s remit could be subject to a levy to fund its work.”
The government said it is “not currently considering introducing any additional complexities into the AVEC system, or placing additional statutory burdens on businesses that may both deter inward investment and have an unsustainable impact on smaller businesses”.
However, it said, “We expect the sector to support CIISA and the Secretary of State reserves the right to intervene if this is not forthcoming.”
The inquiry was launched in 2023 and received submissions from 130 companies and industry bodies before moving to public evidence sessions in early 2024.
Key figures to give evidence included the BFI’s CEO Ben Roberts and chair Jay Hunt, Studiocanal’s UK boss Alex Hamilton, Vue CEO Tim Richards, producers Jane Featherstone and Rebecca O’Brien, directors Gurinder Chadha and James Hawes, plus BBC Film and Film4 heads Eva Yates and Ollie Madden.
After a general election-induced hiatus, a second iteration of the inquiry returned in the latter part of 2024 and early 2025. Conservative member of parliament Caroline Dinenage remained chair throughout and its recommendations were published in a report in April 2025.
The cross-party CMS committee scrutinises the spending, policies and administration of the government department for culture, media and sport and its connected bodies, including the BFI.