ScreenSkills CEO Laura Mansfield welcomes the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) response to the Select Committee report on British film and high-end television.
The Government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting our talented film and high end-TV industry. We now need to work with them to make sure this leads to growth and quality jobs across the sector.
As an ambitious organisation we are committed to building on our successes and confronting the challenges the industry faces right across the UK.
The Government has recognised the work ScreenSkills has already delivered under its new five year strategy Powering Skills, including the publication of Sizing Up: Workforce Composition and Capacity in the Screen Industries report in April.
As part of that strategy, we are committed to focusing more of our training investment on mid and senior-level workers, emphasising retention and career development where possible to keep valuable experience within the sector.
As the screen sector’s skills body, we are leading across the creative sector by way of the industry-approved Training Passport, now in its second phase.
As the lead delivery partner for Discover! Creative Careers, we welcome plans to deliver a refreshed UK-wide £9m creative career service.
We are proud to represent industry and value the commitment industry has placed in us. Our HETV Skills Fund’s income increased from under £2m from 90 productions in 2017 to a record £9.4m in 2024/25 from 192 productions, and in 2024/25, our Film Skills Fund received its highest contribution to date, with just under £2 million being paid into the Fund from productions filmed in the UK. This highlights the support and shared vision we have with industry to support skills development.
ScreenSkills is uniquely placed to identify, support and develop skills and training initiatives across the UK screen sector. In 2024/25, our programmes supported almost 30,000 people at every career stage – 67 per cent of them based outside London.
We have a vast wealth of resources to both support bodies such as Skills England as well as individuals across the sector. Our suite of industry-approved checklists includes 100-150 jobs in scripted and unscripted departments which have been co-developed and consulted with industry, unions, guilds etc.
ScreenSkills is responsible for developing, reviewing and maintaining 32 different suites of National Occupational Standards, each covering the skills, knowledge and tasks required within a separate department within film, TV, VFX, animation, post-production, games – or in cross-creative areas like theatre and heritage (where there is no longer an industry skills body able to take on this role).
We are committed to working in partnership to meet the sector’s skills challenges and ensure the UK continues to be one of the best places in the world to make film and television.
This first year of our new strategy lays foundations for a future-ready workforce. Our ambition is to lead on skills, drive long-term impact, and ensure the industry has the talent it needs to thrive.