CINEMATOGRAPH FILMS (COLLECTION OF LEVY) (AMENDMENT No. 2) REGULATIONS 1962 (Hansard, 20 November 1962)

§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, BOARD OF TRADE (LORD DERWENT)

My Lords, the Cinematograph Films Act, 1957, lays down that the Board of Trade shall, after consulting the Cinematograph Films Council, provide by regulation made by Statutory Instrument for the imposition on cinemas of a levy, the proceeds of which are to be paid out to makers of British films. The statutory scheme replaced voluntary arrangements operated within the industry from 1950 to 1957.

Under the existing regulations, exhibitors are exempt from the payment of the levy so long as their weekly takings do not exceed £250. The main purpose of the proposed Regulations is to increase from £250 to £300 the amount which a small exhibitor can take in any week without incurring levy liability. The concession contained in the existing exemption up to £250, which was fixed in July, 1960, has been reduced since that time by increases in the cost of running cinemas. The proposed amendment will just about restore the status 800 quo to the small exhibitors whom the concession is intended to benefit.

Payments into the Levy Fund in the levy year 1961–62 amounted to some £3.85 million. This is about £100,000 less than the record figure for 1960–61 but there has also been a decline in the public's attendances at cinemas. It is estimated that the increase in the exemption limit to £300 will reduce the Fund by about £130,000 per annum, but any such reduction in the amounts available to producers from the levy is likely to be offset, at least in part, by the extra yield attributable to increased seat prices. The opportunity of the change in the exemption limit is being taken to alter slightly the treatment of takings in respect of educational entertainments. Such takings are at present exempt from levy liability in themselves but count against the first £250 of takings, thus diminishing the value of the small exhibitors' concession. They will in future be treated in the same manner as children's and charitable entertainments in the sense that they will be excluded when calculating whether the weekly exemption limit has been reached. The effect of this change on the levy yield is expected to be negligible.

Both of these proposals have been agreed by the Cinematograph Films Council. Both also enjoy the support of the trade associations representing all parts of the film industry. I trust that the minor amending measure incorporating them will commend itself to the House. I beg to move.