§ Mr. LepperTo ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if he will make a statement on the(a) role and (b) levels of public funding of each of the regional film archives. [71167]
§ Janet AndersonThe role of the regional film archives is to collect material of relevance and significance to their areas, so that it can be made available locally for screenings, supply to television programmes and individual research. Each depends on a range of public funding from local and central government and public bodies. Support from my Department, which is channelled through the British Film Institute, is as follows:
1998–99 East Anglian Film Archive 20,000 Media Archive for Central England 9,000 Northern Region Film and Television Archive 35,000 Northern Ireland Film Commission 10,000 North West Film Archive 16,200 South East Film and Video Archive 17,500 TSW Film and Television Archive 10,000 Wales Film and Television Archive 22,000 Wessex Film Archive 18,000 Yorkshire Film Archive 11,500 Total 159,200 1Forecast for 1999–2000 In addition, the British Film Institute currently channels some £3.8 million of its Government grant to the National Film and Television Archive which has a national remit to preserve and make accessible its collections of film and video material.