The UK Film Council became one of the highest profile quangos to be axed by the coalition government after culture secretary Jeremy Hunt unexpectedly announced its abolition.
As reported in Public the number of arm's-length bodies is being reduced across government to cut costs, and yesterday was the turn of the departments for culture and health.
Other casualties include The General Social Care Council, which regulates social workers: it will be merged into another body; the HFEA fertility watchdog and funding body Sport England are also among 20 or so organisations in yesterday's cull. The drugs rationing watchdog NICE will have its remit expanded into a new quango, called HealthWatch England, to promote NHS patients' rights.
The Gambling Commission will become part of the National Lottery Commission. Hunt also axed the Museums, Libraries and Archives council (MLA).
The culture secretary said: "Many of these bodies were set up a considerable length of time ago, and times and demands have changed. In the light of the current financial situation, and as part of our drive to increase openness and efficiency across Whitehall, it is the right time to look again at the role, size and scope of these organisations."
No notice and no consultation
John Woodward, chief executive of the UK Film Council, briefed an unprepared staff about the decision at the council's central London headquarters this morning. No one had seen it coming. He said the decision had been taken with "no notice and no consultation".
In a statement Woodward called the proposal "short-sighted and potentially very damaging, especially as there is at present no roadmap setting out where the UK Film Council's responsibilities and funding will be placed in the future".
Film producer Tim Bevan, who chairs the council, said: "Abolishing the most successful film support organisation the UK has ever had is a bad decision, imposed without any consultation or evaluation. People will rightly look back on today's announcement and say it was a big mistake, driven by short-term thinking and political expediency. British film, which is one of the UK's more successful growth industries, deserves better."
Hunt told MPs that the film council also spent £3m a year on administration and the money would be better used going directly to film-makers. The question remains however: how will the cash be distributed? The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said work would be done in the next few weeks to answer the many questions thrown up by the council's abolition.
Today's statement also promised "a direct and less bureaucratic relationship with the British Film Institute" but said the BFI, as a charity, could not take on the film council's production functions.
The union Bectu, which represents thousands of workers in the film industry, condemned the move. Its assistant general secretary, Martin Spence, said: "This decision is economically illiterate and culturally philistine. Film is an export success story: we sell British production skills throughout the world. And film is also a crucial cultural resource. But the industry is desperately fragmented and long experience tells us that it needs a national agency to achieve its potential."
Hunt has proved one of the most pro-active of David Cameron's cabinet in coming up with a response to Treasury demands for 25%-40% spending cuts. He has axed £45m for a new national film centre and last week Public revealed how he plans to make between 35% and 50% of DCMS civil servants redundant and move out of the departmental headquarters off Trafalgar Square.
From Bubb's Blog
From Whitehall Watch
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