The Government is asking the public's opinion, via a web-based questionnaire, on how National Lottery money is allocated to the arts, film, sport and heritage.

Film currently receives only 2% of the National Lottery money allocated to the good causes. Here are just a few of the things that have been acheived with that funding.

Developing skills and talent:

• Lottery funded films have launched new UK talent; Keira Knightley and Parminder Nagra (Bend it Like Beckham); Andrea Arnold (Wasp); Ashley Walters (The Bullet Boy); Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park) and Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday).


• Since the launch of A Bigger Future, more than 6,600 individuals have benefited from the most extensive training and skills programme supported by public money.


• Skillset established six "Screen Academies" - centres of excellence in film in further, higher and post graduate education which offer vocational courses matched to industry needs.


• A brand new Film Business Academy will help to produce the next generation of film business entrepreneurs and innovators.


• Skillset has invested nearly £3m so far in the continual professional development of people working in film including the Film Futures bursaries scheme which offers those working in the industry up to £800 towards the cost of their chosen course.


• With the help of Lottery Money A Bigger Future has launched Guiding Lights - a unique mentoring scheme pairing established names including Gurinda Chadha with new talent; Timeshift - a groundbreaking job share scheme for production professionals with primary care giver responsibilities; and funded structured new entrants schemes and trainee networks.


• Skillset offer consultancy to the individual companies to develop training programmes for their staff; have a team of careers advisors for new entrants and practitioners and www.skillset.org/film provides an invaluable one stop shop of information about the film industry.

Giving audiences more choice:

• Specialised films such as The Motorcycle Diaries, Girl with a Pearl Earring, Downfall, House of Flying Daggers, Goodbye Lenin! and Bad Education have received wider releases using Lottery funds so that more people have more choice over what they watch at the cinema.


• The Cinema Access Fund has funded cinema equipment to enhance the cinema experience for people with hearing and sight impairments and developed a website dedicated to those with sensory impairments to gain greater information and understanding of their local cinema.


• 212 cinemas across the UK are receiving state of the art digital film projectors so that they can show specialised, classic and foreign language movies.


• Increased access to films in rural and remote communities through awards to local film societies and cinema clubs.

Making great films:

• Lottery money has supported the production of 115 feature films and over 300 short films.


• Around 34 million people in the UK and 103 million people worldwide have seen Lottery funded films generating over £410 million at box offices.


• Unlike most other good causes, film uses money generated from successfully-backed films such as Valiant, 28 Days Later and Bride and Prejudice to reinvest in the industry.


• Lottery funded films such as Gosford Park, The Magdalene Sisters, Bend it Like Beckham, Touching the Void, Wasp, Vera Drake and The Constant Gardener have received strong national and international recognition through film festival nominations and international awards including Oscars®, Golden Globes, BAFTAs, BIFAs, etc.

Encouraging a wider participation in the industry:

• Through the ground-breaking First Light programme 9,000 children and young people have made over 600 short films.


• Lottery funding encourages and supports more diverse filmmakers to apply for funding and to date 17% of all short films funded are made by minority ethnic filmmakers.


• Lottery money has supported diverse films from filmmakers such as Don Letts and Rick Elgood for One Love; Amma Asante for A Way of Life; Sophie Fiennes for Hoover Street Revival; Leon Herbert for Emotional Backgammon and Metin Huseyin for Anita & Me.


• Through the Regional Investment Fund for England (RIFE) and close partnership working in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, film and the moving image has hugely benefited local talent and communities.

What more could be done?

The UK Film Council and Skillset want to continue to do more of what we are already do but a larger share of the Lottery money is needed to:

• Ensure that those working in UK film - from development through to exhibition - have the world beating skills and training needed to help the industry compete in an increasingly tough global market.


• Support the production, distribution and exhibition of distinctive films from a diverse range of sources, including the production of avant-garde and experimental films.


• Provide wide-reaching access to collections of audiovisual material held in the UK's national and regional archives.


• Provide opportunities to learn about, and engage with, film and the moving image in all its diversity, for example through film festivals.

And let's not forget that film is helping to support the British economy. In 2004, £807.9 million was spent in the UK on film production. The film and video industries now employ a record 57,429. And 1 in 5 tourists to the UK cited British film as an influence on their chosen destination!