The UK’s creative industries – from film to fashion, and from video games to the performing arts – are integral to local communities throughout the country.
This is in part because of the economic importance of the sector: one in eight UK businesses are part of the creative industries, and together they contributed almost £116 billion in GVA in 2019, growing twice as fast as the rest of the UK economy as a whole in the past decade (DCMS, 2021).
This Comprehensive Spending Review gives the government an opportunity to stimulate growth in a world-leading sector, many parts of which have been severely affected as a result of the pandemic.
In this representation we highlight three different policy areas where recent PEC evidence suggests policy change is needed:
- Innovation-led recovery: R&D & Artificial intelligence:
- How R&D tax relief and support could be more inclusive to creative sectors
- Support for an AI and Creative Industries Centre to develop broader AI ambitions
- UK-wide investment:
- Support for the AHRC-led Clusters+ programme and their sector-wide infrastructure investment
- Recognise the needs of the creative sector in the Levelling Up Fund and other business support funds
- Consider how the ‘Preston Model’ could support local growth
- Creative workforce: Supporting Self-Employed creatives, Social Mobility, & Immigration:
- Consider calls for a Freelance Commissioner
- Recognise the structures, opportunities and limitations of freelance work in UK skills policy
- Level up early life experiences – ensure fair and equal access to culture and cultural education
- Unlock the potential of creative education as the great leveller
Full links to the research referenced in this representation can be found at the end of this paper.
As with all Spending Review representations the AHRC-funded PEC makes to the government, this briefing should not be read as a “manifesto for the creative industries” covering all areas where support is needed, but rather, specific areas where our evidence strongly points to action that would help grow the sector.
Thumbnail photo by Oleg Magni from Pexels
Government Submissions
Autumn Statement 2023 – Creative PEC’s representation
The Autumn Statement presents an opportunity for the government to supercharge its plans laid out in…
Work Advance & PEC oral evidence to House of Lords: Creative Futures 2022
The House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee is undertaking an inquiry into the future of…
PEC Response to the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee inquiry “A creative future”
This submission from the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre responds to the questions po…
PEC Submission to the DCMS consultation on ‘A change of ownership of Channel 4 Television Corporation’
This submission of written evidence was prepared in response to the ‘Consultation on a change of own…
Response to the DCMS Committee ‘Cultural Placemaking and the Levelling Up Agenda’
This submission from the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre aims to answer the questions…
PEC Response to the Competition and Markets Authority’s proposed study ‘Music and streaming market’
This submission responds to the consultation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as part …
PEC’s Submission to the DCMS Committee inquiry Promoting Britain Abroad
This submission – made from the PEC to the DCMS Committee in January 2022 – addresses th…
PEC’s Submission to the House of Lords Communications and Digital Select Committee inquiry into the future of Channel 4
This submission is co-authored by Dr Tom Chivers and Professor Stuart Allan on behalf of the ‘Arts, …
PEC’s Representation to the Autumn Spending Review
The UK’s creative industries – from film to fashion, and from video games to the performing ar…
Response to the Integrated Review: A new era of soft power?
Yesterday, the Government published the Integrated Review, a survey of the UK’s foreign policy …
