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Budget 2010: Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Contribution to Operational Efficiency and Smarter Government Savings

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24 March 2010

Today the Department for Culture, Media and Sport announces that it will deliver £60 million of efficiency savings, as their departmental contribution towards £11 billion of savings that are being made across Government.

The Budget has today reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to making £11 billion of savings a year by 2012/13 from efficiency and streamlining the centre of Government.

The £11 billion of savings will contribute to halving net borrowing and protecting key public services.  The savings will come following the work of the Operational Efficiency Programme and Putting the Frontline First: Smarter Government. 

The Department for Culture Media and Sport will meet this commitment, while protecting services and facilities enjoyed by the public.  In more detail, DCMS will:

  • secure savings of £10 millon through rationalising and restructuring its arms length bodies. This will include merging the British Film Institute and the UK Film Council, and the National Lottery Commission and the Gambling Commission, subject to the necessary consultation;

  • save £15 million through increasing collaborative procurement across all its NDPBs; and

  • save £35 million from meeting the department’s share of reductions in other savings announced in Smarter Government, on back office spending, reducing consultancy and reducing marketing and communications spending across its arms length bodies. 

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Ben Bradshaw said:

“The Government has made it clear that operational efficiencies and smarter government savings need to be found right across the public sector. We are protecting frontline services and targeting administration costs and back office functions.  This will mean our sectors can continue to deliver the fantastic range and quality of media, culture and sport that the public value.”

Mr Bradshaw also welcomed the announcement in the Budget of tax relief for the UK’s video games industry.  He said:

“Video games generate £2 billion in retail sales in the UK, and contribute £1 billion to UK GDP and have huge potential for growth. This new tax relief scheme will help the UK remain a world-leader in this important industry, protect jobs and support our economic recovery.”

Mr Bradshaw also announced that the Government has eased access to capital reserves for museums and galleries. Museums and galleries have already set out their plans for using their capital reserves in 2010-11. The Department guarantees that these plans will be met. It is committed to finding a long-term solution to the issue over the next 12 months.

Mr Bradshaw said:

“I am very pleased that the Government can address this long-standing concern of our museums and galleries, to help them raise as much money as possible to supplement their public funding.  In these tough financial times, it is important that they maximise their income and make the most of resources from public and private sources.”

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Notes to Editors

  1. Arms Length Bodies

    The reform of DCMS’s arms length bodies will include:

    • The merger of the Gambling Commission and the National Lottery Commission, subject to the development of a robust business case and related consultation.

    • The merger, as planned, of the UK Film Council and the British Film Institute.

    • The winding up, as planned, of the Olympic Lottery Distributor in 2013 and the Olympic Delivery Authority in 2014.

    • The rationalisation of four advisory bodies: the Spoliation Advisory Panel, the Legal Deposit Advisory Panel, the Advisory Committee on National Historic
      Ships and the Advisory Committee on Historic Wreck Sites.

    • Exploring the benefits of a strategic body for libraries bringing together the functions of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), the Advisory Council on Libraries and the Public Lending Right.

  2. Museum Reserves

    At present, the national museums sponsored by DCMS are classified as Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs).  Funding comes in part through grant-in-aid from DCMS (largely to help with running costs, salaries, security etc), and in addition through self-generated income (shops, exhibitions), and from private donations/corporate sponsorship.  As NDPBs, every pound spent by the museums counts as within public expenditure, and museums must therefore ensure they have budgetary cover from DCMS to draw on any cash reserves they may have accumulated, whatever its source. 

    In the past, DCMS has generally been able to manage museums’ requests to use their reserves.  However, the present financial climate may mean more museums will wish to dip further into the reserves, putting more pressure on budgetary cover.  The Government has agreed that it will guarantee to meet the projected drawdown of reserves in 2010-11 for all Government –sponsored museums and galleries who need it, and further work will go forward to agree a long-term solution to the issue over the next 12 months.

  3. Tax Relief

    DCMS will be working closely with HM Treasury, BIS and the video games industry in the coming months to develop the system for tax relief that will bring the maximum benefit to the video games industry and the wider economy. It is expected to operate in a similar way to the existing tax relief available on film production expenditure.  This involves a percentage relief on qualifying expenditure for productions that pass a Cultural Test.  More information on film tax relief is available at the UK Film Council website.

Press Enquiries: 020 7211 6052/6277
Out of hours telephone pager no: 07699 751153
Public Enquiries: 020 7211 6200

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