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National Offender Management Services: Licences

Volume 507: debated on Thursday 11 March 2010

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost was of the licences purchased by the National Offender Management Service from (a) MPLC and (b) Filmbank. (316316)

The showing of films by video/DVD to groups of prisoners or staff requires a licence as it constitutes public performance.

There are two licences as no one licensing body covers all the main studios.

The cost of licences in the 2008-09 financial year for the Motion Picture Licensing Company (MPLC) and Filmbank was £315,883 and £39,774 respectively. This equates to £3.60 per prisoner per year (or lp a day).

Films have been shown to prisoners for many decades.