The Young Audiences Content Fund Campaign

Dear Secretary of State

We the undersigned call upon you to reverse the decision to close the Young Audiences Content Fund by the end of February 2022 - a decision which appears to have taken place without the "full evaluation" of the pilot which the government promised.

The Fund should be restored for a further three years so that it can continue to provide a greater range of public service content for our children and young people - the vital stories that capture the diversity of their lives and experiences as citizens of the UK.

The consequences of the pandemic for young people are of considerable concern, including pressures on mental health, educational attainment, socialisation and engagement. There has never been a more important time to support a wide range of informative and engaging public service content which can address these issues.

When it launched, the Fund was a perfect example of joined-up government, complementing Ofcom's new powers to regulate the commercial public service broadcasters. Without it we return to "market failure", with the BBC as the only commissioner of original content for young people in the UK, at a time when its budgets have effectively been reduced by the licence fee freeze.

With that in mind, the DCMS should fund this initiative directly, mirroring recently announced funding for the games industry and UK Global Screen Fund. For as little as £10 million a year, the fund could support a variety of genres and age-targets, continuing to address levelling-up through production in the nations and regions while also supporting the UK's indigenous languages.

If the Fund closes the losers will be:

• British children who will see themselves less and hear fewer of their stories
• The children's media industry which is a strong competitor in international markets and employs considerable numbers of people across the UK
• Society as a whole, which will be forced to accommodate a generation of disengaged citizens who have grown up on a diet of primarily international media content as the source of their information and inspiration, and who no longer feel a connection to our shared values and beliefs.

Restoration of the Fund will also ensure that, as the debate on the future of public service funding and delivery takes place over the next few years, there is an organisation in place that can be adapted to react to changes in audience behaviour and preferences.

In the meantime It will ensure there is no interruption to the competitive, plural supply of relevant public service content for the young audience that is so often overlooked and for whom it is so important.

We recommend a swift decision to extend the life of the Fund so that continuity is maintained.