HC Deb 09 November 2001 vol 374 cc494-5W
Miss McIntosh

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what European Union funds are available for(a) the production and (b) the distribution of British-made films. [13382]

Dr. Howells

The "i2i" Audiovisual Initiative will make funding of approximately 600 million euros available to the European audiovisual industry over the next few years. The initiative was launched by the European Commission, the European investment bank and the European investment fund in December 2000 and will support a wide range of activities, including production and distribution. Support will be in the form of loans for medium and long-term investments in infrastructure (such as studios); production of film packages and distribution; global loans to the banking sector specialising in audiovisual matters to fund small firms which create or use audiovisual technology and shareholdings in risk-capital funds specialising in the audiovisual sector.

The EU's Media Plus programme runs from 2001 to 2005 and will provide funding of 400 million euros to the European audiovisual industry. At the outset of the programme just over 200 million euros was earmarked for distribution. Media Plus does not provide support for production but is aimed at supporting training, development, promotion and pilot projects, as well as distribution. The "i2i" Audiovisual Initiative has, in part, been developed to complement the Media Plus programme in respect of production.

Table 1: Number of offenders convicted at all courts for money laundering offences, by type of offence, England and Wales, 1991–20001
Code Offence 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Drug money laundering offences
93/49 S49 Drug Trafficking Act 194 (previously S14 Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990 4 4 4 1 4 4 4 4 12 5
93/50 S50 Drug Trafficking Act 1994 (previously S24 Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986)2 Assisting another person to retain the benefit of drug trafficking 6 6 4 4 3 2 11 9 9 16
93/51 S51 Drug Trafficking Act 1994 (previously S23A Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 as inserted by S16 Criminal Justice Act 1993) Acquisition, possession or use of other proceeds of drug trafficking 5 5 5 4 4 3 13 7 9 5
93/52 S52 Drug Trafficking Act 1994. Failure to disclose knowledge or suspicion of money laundering 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
93/53 S53 Drug Trafficking Act 1994 Disclosure of information likely to prejudice an investigation ("tipping off") 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Total drug money laundering offences 4 4 4 5 3 5 28 16 30 26
Offence of laundering proceeds of other crime
53/26 S93A Criminal Justice Act 19883 as inserted by S29 Criminal Justice Act 1993 5 5 5 4 4 2 10 4 4 9
Assisting another to retain the benefit of criminal conduct
53/27 S93B Criminal Justice Act 19883 as inserted by S30 Criminal Justice Act 1993 5 5 5 4 4 6 4 2 5 6
Acquisition, possession or use of proceeds of criminal conduct
53/28 S93C Criminal Justice Act 19883 as inserted by S31 Criminal Justice Act 1993 5 5 5 4 4 4 1 4 4 9
Concealing or transferring proceeds of criminal conduct
53/29 S93D Criminal Justice Act 19883 as inserted by S32 Criminal Justice Act 1993 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Disclose of information likely IO prejudice an investigation ("tipping off)
Total for offences of laundering proceeds of other crime 4 4 4 4 4 8 15 10 9 24
Total for all offences 4 4 4 5 3 13 43 26 39 50
1 Excludes any convictions in Staffordshire
2Court Proceedings data prior to 1993 cannot separately identify offences under S24 Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1986 (since consolidated and replaced by S50 Drug Trafficking Act 1994) from other drug offences. For the years 1993, 1994 and 1995, a special exercise was undertaken to identify this specific offence. However as a 100 per cent, response from courts was not achieved 'estimates' for these three years were made.
3 Sections 93A to 93D Criminal Justice Act 1988 came into force in February 1994.
4 Nil return
5 Not applicable
6 Not available

Note:

All data are given on a principal offence basis