Source · Select Committees · Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Paragraph: 52
We are pleased that Ofcom highlighted the deficits in children’s programming across the PSB portfolios...
Recommendation
We are pleased that Ofcom highlighted the deficits in children’s programming across the PSB portfolios in 2018 and consider it vitally important that it continues to keep PSB performance in this area under regular review. We recommend that the Government evaluate the success of the Young Audiences Content Fund against its goals and extend the scheme if it is found to be increasing the investment in original content for children in the UK.
Paragraph Reference:
52
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
High quality children’s programming is an essential source of entertainment and learning for young people in the UK. The Government is committed to ensuring young audiences have access to engaging and relevant content that reflects UK society and their own diverse experiences across the nations and regions. As a direct response to the decline in the provision of new UK children’s programming, the Digital Economy Act 2017 gave Ofcom the power to publish criteria for the provision of children’s programming and, if appropriate, to set conditions on the licensed PSBs to ensure that children’s programming meets that criteria. In addition, the Government set up the Contestable Fund Pilot in 2019 to both support children’s television and public service radio content. As set out in the original scoping paper, Contestable Fund Pilot: Supporting Young Audiences and Audio Content, the success of both funds is evaluated against the criteria set out at launch, including quality, innovation, additionality, nations and regions, diversity, new voices, plurality and audience reach. Assessment of the funds is ongoing, but DCMS and the administrators will conduct a full evaluation of the pilot to determine the impact on the provision and plurality of public service content for young audiences and radio. Following the detailed evaluation of the scheme, a decision will be taken on whether to close, maintain or expand the scheme. The Young Audiences Content Fund has published its year one analysis, and will be publishing its analysis of year two later this year.