My Lords, I am delighted to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Fraser. I agree with very many of the points she made, particularly the emphasis that she has. I wish to speak to my Amendment 54, which stands in my name and those of my noble friend Lady Smith of Llanfaes and the noble Baroness, Lady Humphreys, whose support I welcome. It proposes a new clause entitled “Evaluation of nations-based production”, and was tabled by my colleague Hywel Williams MP in Committee in the other place but did not get debated.
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Over the past two generations, television broadcasters from Wales have made a significant mark on the world of broadcasting, in these islands and further afield. From the days of Huw Wheldon back in the 1950s to today, BBC television programmes with a Welsh dimension have contributed to cultural diversity within a UK setting and, within Wales, the BBC has contributed to our ability to speak to ourselves in both languages and to report on our national life. Since the advent in 1982 of S4C, there has been a considerable contribution by the BBC to that as well.
A range of broadcasting leaders from Wales have helped to mould the BBC centrally into what it is today: one thinks of the contribution of Elan Closs Stephens over the past 12 months, in particularly difficult times. The BBC has opened an impressive new Broadcasting House bang in the middle of Cardiff, with state-of-the-art technology and facilities. That has helped Cardiff to become a significant broadcasting hub, with programmes ranging from “Doctor Who” to “Keeping Faith” and “Tree on a Hill” produced in Wales. Independent television has also had significant roots in Wales, from the early days of TWW, through the golden era of HTV—Harlech Television, which I see being acknowledged from the Government Front Bench—and more recently ITV Wales.
By now, a plethora of small production companies make a contribution to these high-profile platforms, both in Wales for Wales, and from Wales to the UK and the wider world. Some of these have enjoyed huge success: one has only to think of the “Hinterland” series, which has been sold to dozens of countries around the globe, and currently new productions have every promise of emulating that success. There are also smaller Wales-based companies which have grown significantly—companies such as Rondo Media, Telesgop, Wildflame Productions, Tinopolis, Vox Pictures and Cwmni Da are all Welsh-grown businesses. The label “made in Wales” on television and radio output has acquired, to some degree, a resonance that “made in England” once had in motor manufacturing—I hope it does not have the same fate—so it is hardly surprising that there are people who take advantage of this through success by association.
This is all to the good if they come and generate their programmes in Wales, contributing to the Welsh economy, helping to give new experiences to Welsh participants and increasing the skills and facilities base within our country. However, as always, there is a real danger of people cashing in on the opportunities that the Welsh brand offers. There are also some who are driven to Wales by the quota approach but want to
use us only for their own narrow purposes and do not try to maximize any contribution to the Welsh economy. In other words, they brass-plate Wales, using their links to Wales for their own benefit but contributing only a minimal amount to our economy.
The new clause that I propose is intended to deal with this abuse of the system. TAC—Teledwyr Annibynnol Cymru—represents 50 companies in Wales which employ, train and develop local skills in that sector. They make shows for all the UK public sector broadcasters including Channel 4, the BBC, ITV, Channel 5 and, of course, S4C. In 2021, the Welsh screen sector had a turnover of £575 million, an increase of 36% on the previous year.
TAC tells us that there is now a growing phenomenon of television companies from outside Wales setting up satellite presence in Wales to win network PSB commissions. TAC told the Welsh Affairs Committee in the Commons last June that, of 71 productions it studied that qualified under current rules as justifying the “made in Wales” designation, no fewer than 41 had their headquarters elsewhere. TAC is concerned because the profits from such productions disappear from Wales. Talent is brought from outside Wales, limiting the benefits to local participants. The intellectual property is held outside Wales, which means that Wales will benefit less, if at all, from future monetisation. The Welsh profile is weakened, thus losing marketing opportunities.
TAC feels that the rules laid down by Ofcom are too weak, so much so that by now a majority of the companies claiming to have a presence in Wales fall into the brass-plating category. The demands made by TAC in the context of this Bill are very reasonable. The first is that Ofcom’s reporting system should be contemporaneous and not based on dated historic information, which makes it next to impossible to verify. Secondly, it asks for a tightening of Ofcom’s guidance—in particular, that a company should be based in a qualifying location for a defined threshold period of time before it can be allowed to claim that it has a “substantive presence” in that region, with an exception for start-up companies rooted in that region. The amendments provide a means of evaluation of “nations-based production” in order to close this loophole. The proposed new clause would place firmer restrictions on companies undertaking commissions aimed at fulfilling regional quotas in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. It would require Ofcom to ensure that the applicant company had a substantial base in the relevant nation and had had a presence within that nation for at least 36 months, with an exception for new start-ups that could demonstrate that they were rooted in that nation and/or had a commitment to remaining there.
The current rules are that to qualify for out of London status or as making products specifically produced in a nation—that is the terminology—the company must, first, have a substantive production base in the UK outside the M25, with the production being managed from there. Secondly, at least 70% of the production spend must be outside the M25. Thirdly, at least 50% by cost of the production talent must have their usual place of employment within the UK outside the M25. Currently, while the letter of such stipulations
may be technically followed, their spirit certainly is not. The purpose of these quotas is to encourage development of regional production centres, better reflect the lives and perspectives of people across the UK, and to provide economic, social and cultural benefits to those areas.
In its Broadcasting in Wales report, the Welsh Affairs Committee in the other place recommended clamping down on brass-plating and specifically called for the Bill to be the avenue by which this could be achieved. I hope that the Minister replying to this debate will take it on himself to give very serious consideration to this issue. It would gain the Government a resonance in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland—and I suspect in the northern regions of England—which they very much need at this point in time.