1990 to 2012 Times of Change or the Endgame Years for COI
To recap, this account of COI Film Division starts in 1946 and finishes in 2012 with Film Division by then known as MIAC (Moving Image and Audio Content) a period of some 66 years. As the content of this account has come together it has seemed sensible to divide these 66 years into three periods
of which this is the third and final period.
The phrase “ End Game Years” with its connotation of gloom should be seen in the context of the whole length of the existence of COI since, as will now be seen, it was a period of immense change. The changes were driven in part by technology, by government attempting to come to grips with the outcome of these changes in the form of new channels of communication that provided new ways to communicate government information messages to the public. At the same time government altered the financial basis of COI for no particularly good reason save ideology, creating stormy sea conditions during which the frail boat of COI was to sail during the final twenty two years before closure.
The first period of this account was defined as the 14 years between 1946 and 1959. Those years included an uncertain start up that was complicated by the continuation of the Crown Film Unit until 1952. The early 1950s also included a time of financial famine. A new conservative government in 1951 grappling with economic problems declared a moratorium that lasted around three years on the use of film for public information purposes. Eventually there was a gradual recovery in the level of film production and the first shoots of the Overseas Television Services appeared in the latter half of the 1950s.
The second period comprises the years from 1960 to 1990 when the production of documentary films, television fillers and television commercials for the Home Departments not only fully recovered from the famine of the 1950s they increased considerably in number.
The volume of production by Film Division was also substantially increased by the growth of the Overseas Television Services from small beginnings in the 1950s that blossomed as expenditure for the overseas departments (Foreign Office, Commonwealth relations Office and Colonial Office) sharply increased. Projects increased in numbers. The organisation and operation of the production process produced a number of innovations to meet the needs of the new television oriented programs.
The 1960s, 70s and 1980s were, with a few hiccups along the way, a good time to be part of Film Division.
Now the third period of 1990 to 2012, is defined by change that gradually came about from 1984 with major change from 1990 onwards. It is this third period that is the subject of the “Endgame Years”.
First Major Change: Follow the Money
When COI was set up in 1946 it was designated a non-Ministerial Department with its own Parliamentary Vote that provided the finance, the funding, for COI. For Ministerial cover in Parliament COI reported to the Treasury
In 1984 the Parliamentary Vote was removed. The COI designation changed to be that of a Repayment Department. The change was part of a drive by Prime Minster Thatcher to introduce the concept of “internal markets” into all departments and all areas of departments of government to improve accountability. The objective was to demonstrate that all departments provided value for money.
The consequence was that COI no longer had its own funding. Instead the money allocated for the production of information materials was now distributed to Departments who would then commission COI to undertake projects and to pay for them on completion: hence the term “Repayment”. The requirement that Departments commission all information materials including films through COI remained thus providing some certainty in terms of a flow of work.
In the four years between the 1984 and 1990 a small number of individual projects were lost as a consequence of Repayment without any significant loss of running services. However it was clear to the senior management of COI from 1984 onward that these changes would lead to some uncertainty for the organisation because levels of business would become more difficult to forecast given that departments would now make decisions on an ad hoc basis.
The COI Management realised that the old order was no longer. They guessed that yet more change might well happen. That it would be prudent to accept that the relationships with Departments would not be the same. Perhaps they should look at the COI management structure and consider what changes might be made to deal with what might be a colder world in the future.
The out come were some changes to management structure in 1984. Hitherto there had been a Management Committee consisting of the Director General and the Home Controller, the Overseas Controller, the Establishment Director and the Director of Finance. Now the two Controller Posts were abolished. In their place the COI production divisions were divided into three groups each under a Group Director who now joined the Management Committee. The aims were to streamline the management of COI and strengthen relationships with the client departments.
The next change took place in 1990. It was to designate COI as an Executive Agency and Trading Fund reporting to the Cabinet Office and not to the Treasury. The material change arising from the new designation was that the requirement laid down in 1946 that Departments must commission all information materials from COI was lifted. Departments were now able to choose whether or not to use COI or go their own way.
A number chose not to commission work from COI either in whole or in part. The loss of work from these Departments had inevitable consequences in loss of income and thereby reductions in staff numbers. These losses were mitigated in some degree since the change of status also enabled COI to take on work from a wider range of public service organisations than hitherto.
The consequence was that during the decade of 1990-1999, there were major changes arising from the loss of work and diminution in the status of COI in relation to client Departments. There were changes in COI senior management from traditional civil servants to a preponderance of senior drawn staff from outside the civil service mainly from advertising and marketing backgrounds. The primary purpose of COI tended to shift from the provision of product such as films, books and exhibitions to that of providing marketing services, consultation and advice services. COI continued to produce products but they tended to be an adjunct to the planning of marketing campaigns.
In addition to the changes of relationship with departments there were also developments in technology that brought new opportunities in the means of communication and new channels of communication.
Finally there was political change when in 1997 the Blair government came to power with policies that very gradually gave rise to a period of increased expenditure on public communications. As shown later in this account the increased expenditure grew considerably from 2004 to 2011. Film Division by then renamed MIAC grew both in size and creative excellence during these final years. The increase in size with implications of additional expenditure eventually reached a point where it provided a new government in 2010, under David Cameron, with the evidence with which to commence the process, for very largely financial reasons, to close COI.
1990 to 1999: COI Governance Events and Consequential Effects on Staffing Numbers: 1990 to 2012
This section briefly records the changes in overall governance of COI before considering the nature of the change in the use of moving pictures and how they were made.
In order to operate as an Executive Agency and Trading Fund the management of the COI was reorganised again during 1990 into a new management team comprising the Director General, Mike Devereau (an ex Whitehall Chief Information Officer. who continued to be DG until 1996/7) a Deputy Director General John Bolitho, Director of Personnel and Office Services Mike Langhorne, Group Director Finance and Office Services Keith Williamson, Group Director of Publications, Press and Exhibitions Don Low, Group Director of Emergency Planning and Regions Peter Brazier, Group Director of Client Services and Marketing Bob Hooper , Group Director of Campaigns Ralph Windsor and Director of Training and Total Quality Management Richard Smith. The Film and Television Division reported to John Bolitho Deputy DG.
The extensive change was reflected in some of the titles of the new management team. Not before had there been a Director of Emergency Planning or one Client Services or of Training and Total Quality Management.
The total number of COI staff in post at 1990/91 was 710. The COI staff numbers had been steadily reducing from 1250 in 1972 following a major review of COI by Sir Ronald Melville.
By 1994 following the loss of work from several Home departments the first of a number of senior appointments from outside the Civil Service were made. Peter Buchanan was recruited from Saatchi and Saatchi as Director of Advertising in August 1994. Previous Directors had been Keith Belben and Mike Brodie both civil servants from within COI. The COI Staff numbers by 1994 had been further reduced to around 550.
In the autumn of 1996 Director General Mike Devereau moved to the Cabinet Office as Head of the Information Services. The now Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tony Douglas came on a contract for three years. He came from a career in advertising and was the first Head of COI who was not from the Civil Service.
Tony Douglas carried out further changes in the management structure to create a Management Board consisting of the CEO together with eight Group Directors. The structure required the creation of three new Business Groups, the Business Improvement Group, the New Business Group and the Staff Development and Welfare Group. The other Groups were the Marketing Communications Group, the Publications Group, the Film Radio and Events Group, the Network Group and the Central Services Group.
All Group Directors with the exception of the Central Services Group also took on responsibility for specific client relationships. The aim was to further increase the focus on client needs.
This change of leadership coincided with the results of a review instituted by the Minister responsible for COI Roger Freeman in 1995 that was undertaken by accountants Cooper and Lybrand to investigate the “scope for increased private sector involvement in COI”. Effectively, the question was “what were the possibilities for the privatisation of parts of COI”.
Tony Douglas was said to have built up the reputation of COI in Whitehall during his tenure. He left in 1998 after only 2 years to become Chair of the advertising agency FCB Europe. During his tenure he made a further cut of 30% in COI staff numbers. Total COI Staff in post by start of 1999 was roughly 325.
In January 1999: Carol Fisher became CEO replacing Tony Douglas. She came from a career partly in the brewing industry. She had a reputation of a tough no-nonsense style. An example of her style is an attack in March 2002 on the advertising industry over “poor integrated campaigns”. She resigned after three and a half years in June 2002 following a critical BBC Panorama programme about COI.
Carol Fisher is credited as having transformed the COI into a “model full-service communications agency”, with some extras – such as a group described as a Strategic Consultancy Team. She also renamed the organisation as “COI Communications.” and oversaw the tripling of COI expenditure to £192 million in 2001. A consequence was that the total number of COI Staff in 2002 rose to about 400.
Alan Bishop came from Saatchi and Saatchi appointed CEO in 2002 in place of Carol Fisher. Unlike his immediate predecessors he remained as CEO until late 2008/9 by which time the total COI spend had risen to around £540 million. The total number COI Staff in 2009 was around 800.
In February 2010 Mark Lund who was CEO of advertising agency DLKW was appointed CEO in succession to Alan Bishop. The overall COI advertising/marketing budget in 2010 was circa £540 million. However in the same year a General Election brought in David Cameron as Prime Minister in a situation of economic crisis. One of his early actions was to freeze expenditure across the government information services. COI overall expenditure in 2010 quickly dropped from around £540 million to £168 million.
Total Staff numbers immediately fell by 40% through a redundancy and voluntary leaving process.
Mark Lund resigned in March 2011 following a review by Matt Tee Permanent Secretary for Government Communication. Matt Tee recommended that the COI be continued but reduced to some 250 staff. This recommendation was not accepted.
Instead, David Cameron accepted the recommendation of Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude that COI should be closed. This closure duly took place on 31 March 2012.
This graph of total COI staff numbers eloquently demonstrates the fall in staff numbers from around 1500 in 1970 to a low of around 300 in1999 rising to around 800 in 2010 then falling again in 2011.
1990 to 2012 Times of Change or the Endgame Years for COI
To recap, this account of COI Film Division starts in 1946 and finishes in 2012 with Film Division by then known as MIAC (Moving Image and Audio Content) a period of some 66 years. As the content of this account has come together it has seemed sensible to divide these 66 years into three periods
of which this is the third and final period.
The phrase “ End Game Years” with its connotation of gloom should be seen in the context of the whole length of the existence of COI since, as will now be seen, it was a period of immense change. The changes were driven in part by technology, by government attempting to come to grips with the outcome of these changes in the form of new channels of communication that provided new ways to communicate government information messages to the public. At the same time government altered the financial basis of COI for no particularly good reason save ideology, creating stormy sea conditions during which the frail boat of COI was to sail during the final twenty two years before closure.
The first period of this account was defined as the 14 years between 1946 and 1959. Those years included an uncertain start up that was complicated by the continuation of the Crown Film Unit until 1952. The early 1950s also included a time of financial famine. A new conservative government in 1951 grappling with economic problems declared a moratorium that lasted around three years on the use of film for public information purposes. Eventually there was a gradual recovery in the level of film production and the first shoots of the Overseas Television Services appeared in the latter half of the 1950s.
The second period comprises the years from 1960 to 1990 when the production of documentary films, television fillers and television commercials for the Home Departments not only fully recovered from the famine of the 1950s they increased considerably in number.
The volume of production by Film Division was also substantially increased by the growth of the Overseas Television Services from small beginnings in the 1950s that blossomed as expenditure for the overseas departments (Foreign Office, Commonwealth relations Office and Colonial Office) sharply increased. Projects increased in numbers. The organisation and operation of the production process produced a number of innovations to meet the needs of the new television oriented programs.
The 1960s, 70s and 1980s were, with a few hiccups along the way, a good time to be part of Film Division.
Now the third period of 1990 to 2012, is defined by change that gradually came about from 1984 with major change from 1990 onwards. It is this third period that is the subject of the “Endgame Years”.
First Major Change: Follow the Money
When COI was set up in 1946 it was designated a non-Ministerial Department with its own Parliamentary Vote that provided the finance, the funding, for COI. For Ministerial cover in Parliament COI reported to the Treasury
In 1984 the Parliamentary Vote was removed. The COI designation changed to be that of a Repayment Department. The change was part of a drive by Prime Minster Thatcher to introduce the concept of “internal markets” into all departments and all areas of departments of government to improve accountability. The objective was to demonstrate that all departments provided value for money.
The consequence was that COI no longer had its own funding. Instead the money allocated for the production of information materials was now distributed to Departments who would then commission COI to undertake projects and to pay for them on completion: hence the term “Repayment”. The requirement that Departments commission all information materials including films through COI remained thus providing some certainty in terms of a flow of work.
In the four years between the 1984 and 1990 a small number of individual projects were lost as a consequence of Repayment without any significant loss of running services. However it was clear to the senior management of COI from 1984 onward that these changes would lead to some uncertainty for the organisation because levels of business would become more difficult to forecast given that departments would now make decisions on an ad hoc basis.
The COI Management realised that the old order was no longer. They guessed that yet more change might well happen. That it would be prudent to accept that the relationships with Departments would not be the same. Perhaps they should look at the COI management structure and consider what changes might be made to deal with what might be a colder world in the future.
The out come were some changes to management structure in 1984. Hitherto there had been a Management Committee consisting of the Director General and the Home Controller, the Overseas Controller, the Establishment Director and the Director of Finance. Now the two Controller Posts were abolished. In their place the COI production divisions were divided into three groups each under a Group Director who now joined the Management Committee. The aims were to streamline the management of COI and strengthen relationships with the client departments.
The next change took place in 1990. It was to designate COI as an Executive Agency and Trading Fund reporting to the Cabinet Office and not to the Treasury. The material change arising from the new designation was that the requirement laid down in 1946 that Departments must commission all information materials from COI was lifted. Departments were now able to choose whether or not to use COI or go their own way.
A number chose not to commission work from COI either in whole or in part. The loss of work from these Departments had inevitable consequences in loss of income and thereby reductions in staff numbers. These losses were mitigated in some degree since the change of status also enabled COI to take on work from a wider range of public service organisations than hitherto.
The consequence was that during the decade of 1990-1999, there were major changes arising from the loss of work and diminution in the status of COI in relation to client Departments. There were changes in COI senior management from traditional civil servants to a preponderance of senior drawn staff from outside the civil service mainly from advertising and marketing backgrounds. The primary purpose of COI tended to shift from the provision of product such as films, books and exhibitions to that of providing marketing services, consultation and advice services. COI continued to produce products but they tended to be an adjunct to the planning of marketing campaigns.
In addition to the changes of relationship with departments there were also developments in technology that brought new opportunities in the means of communication and new channels of communication.
Finally there was political change when in 1997 the Blair government came to power with policies that very gradually gave rise to a period of increased expenditure on public communications. As shown later in this account the increased expenditure grew considerably from 2004 to 2011. Film Division by then renamed MIAC grew both in size and creative excellence during these final years. The increase in size with implications of additional expenditure eventually reached a point where it provided a new government in 2010, under David Cameron, with the evidence with which to commence the process, for very largely financial reasons, to close COI.
1990 to 1999: COI Governance Events and Consequential Effects on Staffing Numbers: 1990 to 2012
This section briefly records the changes in overall governance of COI before considering the nature of the change in the use of moving pictures and how they were made.
In order to operate as an Executive Agency and Trading Fund the management of the COI was reorganised again during 1990 into a new management team comprising the Director General, Mike Devereau (an ex Whitehall Chief Information Officer. who continued to be DG until 1996/7) a Deputy Director General John Bolitho, Director of Personnel and Office Services Mike Langhorne, Group Director Finance and Office Services Keith Williamson, Group Director of Publications, Press and Exhibitions Don Low, Group Director of Emergency Planning and Regions Peter Brazier, Group Director of Client Services and Marketing Bob Hooper , Group Director of Campaigns Ralph Windsor and Director of Training and Total Quality Management Richard Smith. The Film and Television Division reported to John Bolitho Deputy DG.
The extensive change was reflected in some of the titles of the new management team. Not before had there been a Director of Emergency Planning or one Client Services or of Training and Total Quality Management.
The total number of COI staff in post at 1990/91 was 710. The COI staff numbers had been steadily reducing from 1250 in 1972 following a major review of COI by Sir Ronald Melville.
By 1994 following the loss of work from several Home departments the first of a number of senior appointments from outside the Civil Service were made. Peter Buchanan was recruited from Saatchi and Saatchi as Director of Advertising in August 1994. Previous Directors had been Keith Belben and Mike Brodie both civil servants from within COI. The COI Staff numbers by 1994 had been further reduced to around 550.
In the autumn of 1996 Director General Mike Devereau moved to the Cabinet Office as Head of the Information Services. The now Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tony Douglas came on a contract for three years. He came from a career in advertising and was the first Head of COI who was not from the Civil Service.
Tony Douglas carried out further changes in the management structure to create a Management Board consisting of the CEO together with eight Group Directors. The structure required the creation of three new Business Groups, the Business Improvement Group, the New Business Group and the Staff Development and Welfare Group. The other Groups were the Marketing Communications Group, the Publications Group, the Film Radio and Events Group, the Network Group and the Central Services Group.
All Group Directors with the exception of the Central Services Group also took on responsibility for specific client relationships. The aim was to further increase the focus on client needs.
This change of leadership coincided with the results of a review instituted by the Minister responsible for COI Roger Freeman in 1995 that was undertaken by accountants Cooper and Lybrand to investigate the “scope for increased private sector involvement in COI”. Effectively, the question was “what were the possibilities for the privatisation of parts of COI”.
Tony Douglas was said to have built up the reputation of COI in Whitehall during his tenure. He left in 1998 after only 2 years to become Chair of the advertising agency FCB Europe. During his tenure he made a further cut of 30% in COI staff numbers. Total COI Staff in post by start of 1999 was roughly 325.
In January 1999: Carol Fisher became CEO replacing Tony Douglas. She came from a career partly in the brewing industry. She had a reputation of a tough no-nonsense style. An example of her style is an attack in March 2002 on the advertising industry over “poor integrated campaigns”. She resigned after three and a half years in June 2002 following a critical BBC Panorama programme about COI.
Carol Fisher is credited as having transformed the COI into a “model full-service communications agency”, with some extras – such as a group described as a Strategic Consultancy Team. She also renamed the organisation as “COI Communications.” and oversaw the tripling of COI expenditure to £192 million in 2001. A consequence was that the total number of COI Staff in 2002 rose to about 400.
Alan Bishop came from Saatchi and Saatchi appointed CEO in 2002 in place of Carol Fisher. Unlike his immediate predecessors he remained as CEO until late 2008/9 by which time the total COI spend had risen to around £540 million. The total number COI Staff in 2009 was around 800.
In February 2010 Mark Lund who was CEO of advertising agency DLKW was appointed CEO in succession to Alan Bishop. The overall COI advertising/marketing budget in 2010 was circa £540 million. However in the same year a General Election brought in David Cameron as Prime Minister in a situation of economic crisis. One of his early actions was to freeze expenditure across the government information services. COI overall expenditure in 2010 quickly dropped from around £540 million to £168 million.
Total Staff numbers immediately fell by 40% through a redundancy and voluntary leaving process.
Mark Lund resigned in March 2011 following a review by Matt Tee Permanent Secretary for Government Communication. Matt Tee recommended that the COI be continued but reduced to some 250 staff. This recommendation was not accepted.
Instead, David Cameron accepted the recommendation of Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude that COI should be closed. This closure duly took place on 31 March 2012.
This graph of total COI staff numbers eloquently demonstrates the fall in staff numbers from around 1500 in 1970 to a low of around 300 in1999 rising to around 800 in 2010 then falling again in 2011.
