Culture Secretary Jeremy Wright has today announced that the Contestable Fund which aims to halt the decline of UK produced children’s content and reverse the growing trend of airing repeats, will also include:

More support for programming in indigenous UK languages such as Welsh and Gaelic; A multi-million pound boost for commercial radio; and A special fund to help fledgling production companies develop and pitch their original ideas to make them a reality

In December 2017 plans for a pilot fund were announced and following further engagement with industry including broadcasters, producers and other interested parties the final elements of the initiative have been unveiled today.

Minister for Digital Margot James said:

Young people in the UK deserve high quality content that entertains, informs and reflects their experiences growing up across the country today.

The UK broadcasting and production sectors are world renowned, and a success story to be proud of. This innovative project is an instrumental part of our support for the UK’s vibrant media sector and will help it continue to go from strength to strength.

Production levels of new children’s content have declined over the past decade, with public service broadcasters spending roughly 40% less than they did in 2006. As a result a significant amount of children’s programming on children’s channels now consist of repeats.

In 2016, 98% of children’s content on commercial children’s channels and 91% on public service broadcasters were repeats. To directly combat this decline in content for younger people in the UK, £57 million will be invested in to a Young Audiences Content Fund, administered by the BFI. This will focus on funding a new influx of creative and distinctive content that represent UK children and teenagers today. Five per cent of the Young Audiences fund will support production companies develop their ideas.

Additional features of the £60 million Contestable Fund include a welcome boost to indigenous UK languages programming, with an aim to invest five per cent of the total fund on this.

Ben Roberts, Director of Lottery Film Fund, BFI said:

We’re excited to be working with Government to deliver the new Young Audiences Content Fund to help support UK companies to create exciting and distinctive new programmes for young people. It goes hand-in-hand with the BFI’s own mission to connect audiences with the widest possible range of content. We look forward to making the most of this new opportunity to back talent to create bold and original programming and expand the choices available for young people.

John McVay OBE, Chief Executive of PACT said:

Pact welcomes the contestable fund pilot and is pleased that the government has listened to industry feedback to help shape the fund. Pact championed the need for development funding and the focus on children’s content and is pleased this has been recognised. This will help bring new voices into the industry and people’s lives.

Also announced today as part of the Contestable Fund is a £3m Audio Content Fund which will encourage greater innovation and experimentation in the commercial radio sector.

Currently, examples of public service content (aside from national and local news) on commercial radio are rare due to commercial pressures. By removing the necessity for commercial stations and producers to seek as much sponsorship and advertising revenue, the fund will provide significant support to radio producers to try something different, particularly with new voices who do not have an established relationship with broadcasters and therefore access to funding.

Will Jackson, Managing Director of AudioUK, said:

We are delighted that the government accepted our case for an audio element to this fund. This will create many exciting new partnerships between commercial radio and audio producers, and increase the number of diverse new voices both on and off-air. The many production companies based around the UK will be keen to take this new opportunity to make high-quality public service radio content for a range of stations.

Siobhan Kenny, Chief Executive at Radiocentre, said:

“Commercial radio stations are always looking at new ways to serve their listeners, but sometimes the financial reality makes it difficult to do everything they would like. The Audio Content Fund has the potential to provide a significant boost in public service content for audiences, as well as a great opportunity for commercial radio broadcasters to broaden the range of output they provide.”

Further guidance, including how to apply to both of the funds, will be published by the fund administrators in the new year. The pilot will then be open for applications in April 2019.

Notes to Editors

• The Government has today outlined the final scope of the Contestable Fund in a policy paper.

• The BBC is now the dominant buyer and broadcaster of UK children’s content, accounting for 87% of all first-run UK originated children’s programming by public service broadcasters. Whilst the BBC already shows high quality content through CBBC and CBeebies, this fund aims to increase plurality and support new voices, ideas, and content on a broader range of channels and platforms.

• PACT is the trade association representing the commercial interests of UK independent television, film, digital, children’s and animation media companies.

• The Young Audiences Content Fund will be administered by the BFI. The Audio Content Fund will be administered by an independent not-for-profit organisation created by Radiocentre and AudioUK.

About the BFI

The BFI is the lead organisation for film in the UK with the ambition to create a flourishing film environment in which innovation, opportunity and creativity can thrive by:

• Connecting audiences to the widest choice of UK and World cinema
• Preserving and restoring the most significant film collection in the world for today and future generations
• Championing emerging and world class filmmakers in the UK – investing in creative, distinctive and entertaining work
• Promoting UK film and talent to the world
• Growing the next generation of film makers and audiences

The BFI is a Government arm’s-length body and distributor of Lottery funds for film. The BFI serves a public role which covers the cultural, creative and economic aspects of film in the UK. It delivers this role:

• As the UK-wide organisation for film, a charity core funded by Government
• By providing Lottery and Government funds for film across the UK
• By working with partners to advance the position of film in the UK

Founded in 1933, the BFI is a registered charity governed by Royal Charter. The BFI Board of Governors is chaired by Josh Berger CBE.

Madam President,

I wanted also to join others in thanking the Special Coordinator Mr Mladenov for his briefing and also for the work that he and his team do on the ground. I wanted also to thank Mr El-Ad. Like the French and Swedish representatives, we think it’s important that the voices of civil society can be heard in this chamber, and you were invited by the Council.

I do want, if I may, Madam President, just to digress to make a point about these non-Council member speakers, building on the one I made yesterday. This is an open debate. It vitiates the point of an open debate if we cannot understand what is said in the chamber, no matter who it is said by. So I would like to know at some point please what the Israeli PR said to Mr El-Ad in Hebrew and I would also like to make a generic point Madam President, that if speakers use a language for which there is no interpretation that the Presidency of the day stop them and ask them to speak in the Council’s or the UN’s authorised six languages. Thank you.

Turning to the substance, I think Mr Mladenov is absolutely right to remind us that every month we come here and we talk about the same things while everything in the region that we’ve heard today shows quite how desperate and unsustainable the situation is and there are terrible, cruel and sad stories of deaths and injuries on both sides. These underscore the need for urgent progress to end what is a useless cycle of violence and a heart-breaking waste of life and ruined families. And on terrorism, to quote a famous poet, “The gunmen are not dying for the people; the people are dying for the gunmen.” And we ought to bear that in mind as well.

Madam President, we fully respect Israel’s right to security. At the same time, as many speakers have said today, the situation in Gaza is unsustainable. There needs to be immediate improvement in the humanitarian situation. We need political resolve to make these improvements. The reconciliation agreement of 2017 was a good start, but now all the Palestinian factions must implement that agreement. We strongly support the efforts of Egypt and the wider international community to secure this goal with some urgency. And we strongly support the return of the Palestinian Authority to administer Gaza and we continue to encourage all parties to work together to ensure this objective is met.

With other speakers, we remain deeply concerned by the planned demolition of the village of Khan al-Ahmar. And I take this opportunity again to call on the Israeli government not to go ahead with its plans to demolish the village. The decision of the Israeli Supreme Court did not mandate demolition. Demolition remains at the discretion of the Israeli government, and so we appeal to them not to proceed with demolition of this village which is located in an area of strategic importance for the contiguity of a future Palestinian state. Its demolition threatens the prospects for a two-state solution with Jerusalem as a shared capital because as others have said it would pave the way for settlement building in Area E1.

We’ve heard a lot of common themes from the speakers today so I won’t rehearse some of those. I will just say that the Special Coordinator asked us to echo his calls: on both sides to step back from the brink; to uphold the 2014 ceasefire; for Hamas to stop its provocations; on the Israeli side, to restore the delivery of critical supplies, and use proportionate responses in live fire; and on the Palestinian Authority side, not to disengage from Gaza. And I am happy to throw the UK’s voice behind his calls today and to make it crystal clear how strong our support is for you, Special Coordinator.

Madam President, UNRWA was raised, so I will just say that we welcome the increase in donor contributions that was announced on 27 September. These will help meet the immediate needs of the Palestinian people but in the longer term, UNRWA itself needs to continue to prioritize the implementation of cost-saving reform measures, and we will continue to work closely with UNRWA and other donors on the continuity of the essential services.

In conclusion Madam President, like France, we consider ourselves a friend of both Israelis and Palestinians. And like France, we believe that the destinies of these two people are inextricably intertwined. Substantive peace talks between the parties leading to a two-state solution based on 1967 borders, which includes the West Bank and Gaza, is the best way to end this conflict and ensure a sustainable peace. It is the best way to ensure Israeli security, which is absolutely vital, and to achieve a just, fair, agreed, and realistic solution to the Palestinian refugee question in line with the Security Council Resolution 1515. The United Kingdom will continue engaging meaningfully to help bring this about.

Finally Madam President, just to say that I have concentrated today on this subject matter that the Special Coordinator raised and I think that’s right, but other speakers did touch on wider matters. I don’t have time now to go into the issue of child soldiers, but I would just like to put on record that the United Kingdom shares the concerns about these child soldiers.

Thank you very much.

International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt today (Thursday 18 October) galvanised the support of more than 500 delegates from across the international aid community to commit to a “root to branch” change in the way the sector operates.

At the landmark International summit, Ms Mordaunt welcomed delegates from the United Nations, World Bank Group, international financial institutions, research organisations, survivors and NGOs who all agreed to sign up to tough global standards to stop sexual predators abusing vulnerable people around the world.

All the major international donors – covering 90 per cent of global aid – today committed to worldwide standards on the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. These standards cover ethical behaviour, recruitment and complaints processes.

They will be backed up by stronger due diligence processes, better project monitoring, and tougher language in funding agreements.

Donors will also publish relevant information about allegations and confirmed cases and will be subject to regular independent review by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The commitments announced by different groups representing the sector focused on four key themes:

• preventing sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment from happening in the first place;

• pledging to listen to those who have been affected;

• removing and addressing barriers to reporting sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment; and

• learning more quickly in future, as new evidence and opportunities emerge.

The Department for International Development (DFID) has today committed £20 million in research funding to improve understanding of the risks people affected by conflict face, including those subjected to sexual exploitation.

The research will make a valuable contribution in helping to determine what can be done to avoid and mitigate the risks associated with exploitation and harm and what we all can do to effectively safeguard people who are trusting us to care for them.

After the summit, International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said:

Let there be no doubt this international summit was not about gathering promises to tinker around the edges. This is about setting in place a fundamental rewrite, from root to branch, of the way the aid sector operates.

It is incredibly important that as we work to tackle sexual exploitation and abuse in the aid sector we put the voices of victims and survivors first. Which is why we dedicated the first half of the day to listening to their accounts and hearing from those on the frontline.

This is not the end of the process. There is still a huge amount of work to do but these commitments and the new tools we have outlined today send a message to perpetrators – your time is up, there is nowhere to hide.

The summit has also seen major commitments from the sector including:

• a new Disclosure of Misconduct Scheme which will prevent known perpetrators moving around undetected – at least 15 organisations have signed up to this so far, amounting to approximately 50,000 staff worldwide;
• the Disasters Emergency Committee announcing the launch of shared reporting hotlines for raising concerns in future emergencies, along with a review of how they respond to community feedback, including in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh; and
• all donors and other participants committing to having at least one named senior level champion accountable for work on safeguarding issues and to encourage annual discussions at board level.

DFID also announced a number of measures today.

• An Interpol pilot to improve background checks on staff who work in the aid sector and provide advice to employers on international vetting and identifying high-risk individuals. This will also lead to better information sharing across borders and help close the net on predators who are using the aid sector as a cover to abuse and exploit.
• Support for NGOs to test a new passport for aid workers to prove an individual’s identity, provide background information and vetting status.
• DFID and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will be supporting the development of a statement of victims’ rights. This statement will allow people to understand their rights, and to have confidence that they can find help if those rights are threatened or violated.

ENDS