BECTU submission to Labour Party National Policy Forum consultation: Enhancing the Quality Of Life

11 February 2004
  1. As a Labour Party affiliate, BECTU values the opportunity to make a submission in response to this Consultation Document. Our primary focus is in those areas covered in the sections on 'The Arts' and 'Public Service Broadcasting' (pages 11-12 of the Consultation Document). We set out below, in summary form only, our key concerns in the relevant areas. We will be happy to supply additional background policy papers if required.

    2. Film

  2. We welcome the Government's indication that fiscal support for the film industry will be extended beyond 2005. The recent recovery in British film production is welcome but requires continuing supportive measures.
  3. We would support the application of such tax relief not just to film production (although this remains an absolutely vital measure in an internationally competitive sector such as film) but also to distribution. We need to move from being a fragmented production led industry to one with an integrated approach including incentives for the distribution of British films in an international market otherwise dominated by the major Hollywood distributors. Too many British films are produced but never shown. We need to remedy this by supporting the distribution as well as the production of our films.
  4. We further believe that other measures to support the development, production, distribution, exhibition, promotion and marketing of British films - especially including indigenous films which reflect British culture - should be given full consideration. This could include the possibility of a cinema box office levy for re-investment in British films, allied to a reduction in VAT on cinema tickets (as applies elsewhere in the EU).

    5. Public service broadcasting (PSB)

  5. We strongly support the maintenance of our public service broadcasting tradition, which is at the heart of our internationally-recognised broadcasting system. We believe that the key elements of PSB - including universality of provision; a commitment to educate, inform and entertain both a mass audience and a diverse range of more specific audiences; a strong emphasis on original programme production, as opposed to repeated and imported programmes; and a spread of regional production centres throughout the UK - are still vitally relevant to the digital age.

    6. The BBC

  6. The BBC is the cornerstone of our PSB system and should remain so. It is the primary source of original programme production in British broadcasting (putting well-funded competitors such as BSkyB to shame). It is both the main employer and the main provider of training for our whole audiovisual workforce. It is also, through Freeview, the main driver of the spread of digital television in the UK.
  7. In the forthcoming debate on BBC Charter Renewal we will be arguing:
    • That the BBC licence fee should remain as the primary source of BBC funding and that the BBC should have full and exclusive use of licence fee income.
    • That 'top slicing' the licence fee - ie diverting some funds to a possible 'Arts Council of the Air' to which commercial broadcasters could bid for revenue - should be rejected. Just like the disastrous rail privatisation, we believe this would weaken a viable public service, redirect public resources to private profit, create an unnecessary extra bureaucracy and result in an inferior service for viewers.
    • That in the wake of Hutton it is absolutely necessary for the BBC to retain its independence from Government through a strong and independent role for the BBC Governors. We see no merit in wholly subsuming the BBC under Ofcom as merely one among many other (mainly commercial) broadcasters.
  8. In the light of recent events, we believe the Party's approach to the BBC will be a key consideration with the public.

    9. ITV

  9. Our primary concern is the retention of a strong commitment to regional production throughout the nations and regions of the UK. By this we mean original programme production in the regions not just for local consumption but for the whole ITV network. We campaigned on this issue during the passage of the Communications Act and were pleased at the amendments strengthening the Act's clauses on regional production.
  10. However, we retain serious concerns about the implications for regional production of the Granada/Carlton merger and - as an unwelcome future possibility now allowed by the Act - the prospect of an American-owned ITV. Since the Act we have already seen Granada/Carlton (now ITV plc) moving to make redundancies at Meridian TV and to concentrate previously regionally-based programming in London.
  11. Regional programme production has been the defining characteristic of ITV since its inception - with significant economic and cultural benefits throughout the UK. Further concentration of production in London should be resisted. We believe Ofcom, as the relevant regulator, should be required to enforce regional production requirements with vigour rather than a 'light touch' and that ITV plc should be held immediately accountable for any further attempts to concentrate its programme production.

    12. Theatre

  12. Our primary concern in this area relates to the job losses caused by closures resulting, ironically, from public funds aimed at allowing theatres to rebuild or refurbish. We fully support the principle of public funding (usually ultimately lottery funding) for theatre stabilisation and for capital programmes. What we find unacceptable is that the resulting rebuilding/refurbishment programmes lead to unnecessary and avoidable redundancies for workers in the theatres affected. They (and their unions) are often only informed and involved when a theatre closure is announced (to allow capital works to be carried out) and when redundancies are presented as inevitable. This has happened in a number of instances - most notably at Leicester Haymarket Theatre, where 80 workers were made redundant with no guarantee of re-employment when the replacement theatre opens.
  13. We believe alternative procedures need to be put in place governing the use of public lottery funds for theatre rebuilding. In or view, all future funding applications and decisions of this kind should be subject to a requirement for proper consultation with the relevant trade unions and staff well in advance of any proposed closure, with the aim of avoiding or minimising redundancies and of securing the right to re-employment when the theatre reopens. In or view, theatres should be just as concerned to invest in their human capital in this way as in the physical capital represented by their buildings.

    14. Conclusion

  14. We hope the Party will take note of our views and therefore of the members we represent, who recently voted to retain our Labour Party affiliation. We look forward to the further progress of the Consultation.
Last updated 6 April 2004