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Films (Definition of ““British Film””)Order 2006

My Lords, I thank the Minister for introducing the order and for his explanation. We are sympathetic to what he says. We support any measures that improve the definition of what constitutes a British film and we are glad that the Government have fully consulted on this matter and have come up with something that is acceptable to so many of those involved. The cultural test appears to be an improvement on what went before and we hope that it will help to support the British film industry to yet greater success. We understand that the Government’s view is that the new test is simpler than the old one, despite how it may appear to the layman on paper. Anything that allows the film industry to spend less time filling in forms and calculating tax credit, rather than making films, is to be welcomed. I hope the order achieves just that. The Government’s record in this area has not always been what one would hope, with confusion over future tax incentives before the pre-Budget announcement on 5 December last year contributing to a significant fall in production levels. We are also glad that the Minister in the other place was able to reassure my honourable friend there that implementation of the new test would require no extra resources, so at least it will not make the department’s headcount reduction exercise any harder than it might have been. We hope that the order achieves what it sets out to do and that the new test is a success.