Film & TV industry gets more money for skills development
Employers in the UK’s film and television industry have welcomed the Government's additional boost for skills development of up to £10m as announced in the latest Budget.
The money, to be distributed over a period of two years, is meant to increase the skills of people in the creative industries. The extra investment is seen as an acknowledgement of how important the UK creative industry is as an economic sector.
The £10m adds to the £6m already announced in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, showing he has ear-marked new Government co-investment to a total of £16m to match industries’ leading to a total of £32m.
This figure is set to provide entry and professional level training for over 5,000 individuals working in film, TV, animation, games and VFX.
Large employers in the film, television and related audio-visual industries, and groups of small companies collaborating together, will be able to bid for co-investment for proposals that meet the key skills and training challenges that have been identified as being priorities.
Investment through Skills Investment Fund
Creative Skillset has been charged with managing this investment through its Skills Investment Fund and will work with representatives of each industry to make sure the money is well spend.
Stewart Till CBE, chair of Creative Skillset and CEO of Sonar Entertainment said that after having identified the UK's skills and talent as “one of the principal drivers of growth and global reputation”, the organisation “applauds the Government for incentivising co-investment and providing this much needed injection to support growth in our priority economic sectors”.
Till says the news matches the employers’ ambitions to develop an innovative industrial partnership for the creative Industries to take end-to-end responsibility for skills in their sectors.
Creative Industries Minister Ed Vaizey said: "The UK has a world class content production sector. Today’s package of measures, announced in the Budget, recognises the significant economic contribution made by our highly skilled creative content industries. It demonstrates Government’s on-going commitment to supporting innovation and investing in talent to help keep the UK ahead of the game when it comes to creative excellence."
"A vote of confidence"
Amanda Nevill, chief executive of the BFI called the Budget “a vote of confidence from the Government in film and the creative industries as engines for economic growth in the UK”.
“The BFI is placing skills and innovation at the heart of our five year strategic plan and this additional support from Government marks an important step in future proofing the success of the industry.”
Anne Morrison, director of the BBC Academy and chair of Creative Skillset’s TV and Content Strategy Group, said: “The announcement is great news for the TV industry. It will enable professionals from across the industry to develop their skills and become specialists in the high end spectrum of production It will enrich our industry’s already well-respected creative and technical skills base to maintain its status for high quality TV production.”
