Policy
Creative PEC’s policy team works across all our research areas, producing policy briefings, analysis, and recommendations, as part of Creative PEC’s mission to provide a step-change for policy makers in the quality of evidence for the creative industries.
The policy team is core to our work bringing together policy makers in government, both national and local, with the research community and creative industry representatives.
Policy Publications
Policy Briefs
We aim to help policymakers identify the policy implications of academic research and industry insight on the creative industries.
Policy Brief: Insights from the Northern Creative Corridor Workshops Sprint
The Northern Creative Corridor is an initiative aimed at connecting creative clusters across Norther…
Policy Brief: International Trade and the UK Creative Industries
This policy brief examines international trade in the UK creative industries. Drawing on our UK Trad…
Policy brief: Audiences and Workforce in Arts Culture and Heritage
This policy brief uses census data to provide, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of audie…
Policy Brief: Transitioning to Sustainable Production across the UK Theatre Sector
This policy brief outlines recommendations for transitioning to more sustainable theatre production …
Authors’ Earnings in the UK
This policy briefing sets out areas for possible policy action, proposed by the researchers at CREAT…
Television production, international trade and pressures to consolidate
The UK television production sector is one of Britain’s leading creative export sectors. This briefi…
Three ways to support growth in the creative industries
Three ways to support growth in the creative industries The Creative Industries are an economic powe…
Policy briefing: Creative industries innovation in seaside resorts and country towns
This policy brief is based on a PEC Discussion Paper: Creative Industries Innovation in Seaside Reso…
Policy Briefing: R&D in the Creative Industries
The creative industries are one of the fastest growing sectors of the UK economy. One in eight UK bu…
A global agenda from the PEC’s International Council
You can now read the report in A Global Agenda for the Cultural and Creative Industries is the …
The birth of neo-regulation. Where next for the UK’s approach to platform regulation?
A new era of tech regulation is about to begin. However, planned legislation is leading to a tension…
Placemaking, Culture and Covid
In September 2021, we consulted a Panel of our Industry Champions on their experiences of …
The Creative Industries in the UK’s Export Strategy
This brief is based upon the findings of our latest research into the features and barriers facing t…
How to design a creative higher education system that supports economic needs
As the UK emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Government is faced with important policy decision…
Creative places: Growing the creative industries across the UK
This is in part because of the economic importance of the sector: one in eight UK businesses are par…
Driving local growth: Lessons from the Preston Model
The ‘Preston Model’ of Community Wealth Building (CWB) is an innovative policy intervention that ens…
Mapping the R&D landscape for creative technologies
Creative technologies (“CreaTech”) will play an increasingly big role driving innovation and g…
The Regulation of Online Platforms: Mapping an emergent regulatory field
This policy brief is designed to accompany the Discussion Paper,The Emergence of Platform Regul…
Freelancers in the Creative Industries
One of the defining features of the creative industries is a high reliance on freelancers wheth…
Recovery and growth for creative freelancers: during and post-pandemic
Insights from our Industry Champions: in partnership with the Centre for Cultural Value At the end o…
Business R&D in the arts, humanities and social sciences
What R&D in the arts, humanities & social sciences looks like in a business setting, and why…
On-Demand Culture: How the lockdown is changing games and streaming services
Covid-19 regulations and restrictions have meant conventional forms of leisure and culture have eith…
Beyond the early adopter: widening the appeal for virtual reality
How the cultural industries can increase the adoption of immersive technologies for mainstream audie…
The impact of COVID-19 on diversity in the creative industries
As part of our research agenda on the industry’s response to COVID-19, we partnered with the Al…
Understanding how our habits of cultural consumption changed during lockdown – wave 9 data
Insights from the nine-week study into consumers cultural consumption habits – data from wave …
Beyond bailouts: three ways the upcoming Spending Review should support the creative industries
The creative industries – from film, to fashion, to creative digital – are now widely re…
Business model disruption and innovation during COVID-19 in the creative content industries
To understand how COVID-19 continues to affect the creative industries, we have consulted our Indust…
As lockdown eased: How our habits of cultural consumption at home are changing
The outbreak of COVID-19 and the halt on many cultural and creative activities, from live music, to …
Graduate motivations and the economic returns of creative higher education inside and outside the creative industries
Insights for policymakers The creative industries have experienced a glorious decade punctuated by a…
The importance of a UK-wide recovery plan for the creative industries
New research shows that following the global financial crisis in 2008 we saw an accelerated tre…
Understanding how our habits of cultural consumption changed during lockdown – newest survey data
Insights from the nine-week study into consumers cultural consumption habits This is the latest rele…
How policymakers can support local growth in the creative industries
As part of our research agenda around local growth, we consulted our Industry Champions on…
How evidence should guide manifesto promises on the Creative Industries
The creative industries – from film, to fashion, to creative technology – are rightly la…
The value of creative higher and further education
Insights from our Industry Champions As part of the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (…
Government Submissions
All of our responses to government, including our formal submissions to departmental or committee inquiries, calls for evidence, and consultations, as well as our responses to policy announcements and fiscal statements.
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 …
Policy Blogs
Insights and analysis from Creative PEC’s policy team and guest bloggers.
Creative PEC’s response to the Spring Budget 2024
Creative Industries in the 2024 Spring Budget The creative industries are a significant part of the …
Discussion Papers
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
International Trade Challenges and the Effectiveness of Support Measures for the UK’s Creative Industries
The formidable challenges confronting the UK’s creative industries in the realm of exports, st…
Northern England’s Creative Industries
The Creative Industries are already a driver of growth across the UK economy. Export-intensive and m…
Creative Destruction? Creative firms, workers and residential gentrification
A new study by Tasos Kitsos, Max Nathan, and Diana Gutierrez-Posada finds only a minor influence of …
Speaking with One Voice
A fundamental remit of the BBC, and other public service broadcasters (PSBs) like ITV and Channel 4,…
Transitioning to Sustainable Production across the UK Theatre Sector
This discussion paper examines transitional pathways to sustainable theatre production in the UK. By…
Identifying and analysing UK fashion micro-clusters
The UK’s Fashion and Textiles industry contributed almost £20 billion to the UK economy in 202…
Net Zero as a catalyst in fashion micro and small enterprises
This report identifies examples of work taking place across three levels of change – social, e…
The Motives of Inbound Foreign Direct Investors in the UK Creative Industries
The UK’s creative industries have a global reach. British arts, technology, and design are internati…
Brexit uncertainty and international trade in services: Evidence from the UK creative industries 2014-2019
This discussion paper is based on one of the first studies to look at the impact of Brexit on the Cr…
Working Together – Cooperatives as a creative industry business model
This authors looks at how creative workers and students typically understand cooperatives, explore t…
Building sustainable regional music industry clusters
This report looks at the role the creative industries can play for the Levelling Up agenda, as well …
Crypto art and questions of value
Crypto Art is a novel, emerging creative form that is entirely digital, and native to the internet. …
Live music ecologies in the UK: A local perspective in the context of the pandemic
In 2019, the UK’s live music sector was valued at over £1.3 billion. After almost a decade of strong…
The role of the university in enhancing creative clusters
Universities are important for driving growth in their local creative industries. At the same time, …
Creative clusters and sparse spaces: Manchester’s creative industries and the geographies of deprivation and prosperity
The aim of this paper is to ‘take stock’ of the creative industries in Manchester and to explore the…
Creative industries innovation in seaside resorts and country towns
Read our four page policy brief for key recommendations based on this research: Insights for Policym…
What distinguishes creative industry exporters? And does engaging in innovation, R&D and design matter?
Post-Brexit, the UK government is keen to accelerate UK exporting, including in creative goods and s…
The nature of foreign direct investment in the creative industries
For the host country receiving the investment, there is a wealth of evidence that FDI can increase p…
Assessing the impact of COVID-19 on the arts and cultural sector: British newspaper reporting of the Culture Recovery Fund
Newspapers covered many of the impacts of COVID-19, from the psychological strain of lockdown isolat…
Culture in quarantine? Cultural institutions’ uses of Twitter during lockdown
Cultural institutions, such as museums and galleries, are important for local communities. They are …
The relationships between cultural organisations and local creative industries in the context of a cultural district
This Discussion Paper was commissioned by the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) a…
Starving the golden goose? Access to finance for innovators in the creative industries
Please note: this paper has been accepted in Journal of Cultural Economics, DOI: 10.1007/s10824…
What is the public value of public service broadcasting?
This question has long been a subject of lively debate, bringing together the competing priorities o…
Pivot to digital: How museums and galleries responded to COVID-19
As the UK went into full lockdown in March 2020, museums and galleries were faced with the prospect …
Creative firms and trade
The implications for policymakers emerging from this work are explored in our Policy Briefing: …
A review of creative trade in the economics literature
This paper summarises the key research and models for creative trade. Starting with a general overvi…
The UK’s international creative trade: A review of the official data sources
There is a growing recognition among policy makers and governments around the world of the importanc…
Growth through skills: Lessons from the Thames Estuary Production Corridor
This discussion paper is a case study for how to drive growth within creative clusters through inves…
Do creative industries generate multiplier effects? Evidence from UK cities 1997-2018
A paper examing the long-term impacts of the creative industries on surrounding urban economies
The European Capital of Culture: A review of the academic evidence
A literature review & policy implications of the impact of the Capital of Culture on local economies
R&D, design and innovation: Examining the links in the creative industries
This paper provides policymakers, academics, and creative industry organisations with one of the fir…
The emergence of platform regulation in the UK
A discussion paper examining the emerging field of platform regulation in the UK
Creating value in place
The role, contribution and challenges of creative freelance work The creative industries are incredi…
The challenges facing freelancers in Scottish Film and TV
An analysis of 45 years of data from the Film Bang directory COVID-19’s effect on the creative indus…
Comparative analysis of pay and conditions: London’s West End and New York’s Broadway
This discussion paper feeds into our wider research on freelancers, considering the employment condi…
Evolution and trends of creative cluster research
A systematic literature review and future research agenda The geographical clustering of creative an…
International creative students: their significance for UK universities, regions and the creative industries
Assessing the value of higher education has become a divisive issue, in particular, the use of gradu…
A skills monitor for the Creative Industries
Workplace perspectives: skill needs, mismatches and development in the Creative Industries This Crea…
Relatedness between the Creative Industries and the wider economy: A primer
The Creative Industries are seen as an key part of the knowledge economy, and policymakers inve…
Measuring the creative economy: A guide for policymakers
Policy debates on the creative industries are mired in ambiguities and inconsistencies in terminolog…
Skills, talent and diversity in the creative industries: critical issues and evidence gaps
Following a nine-month evidence synthesis and scoping exercise undertaken by the PEC team leading on…
Immersive experiences in museums, galleries and heritage sites: a review of research findings and issues
Interest in immersive experiences in museums and heritage sites has increased in recent years in res…
Mind the gap: regional inequalities in the UK’s creative industries
Using official Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Economic Estimates, this Disc…
Policy Briefs
We aim to help policymakers identify the policy implications of academic research and industry insight on the creative industries.
Policy Brief: Insights from the Northern Creative Corridor Workshops Sprint
The Northern Creative Corridor is an initiative aimed at connecting creative clusters across Norther…
Policy Brief: International Trade and the UK Creative Industries
This policy brief examines international trade in the UK creative industries. Drawing on our UK Trad…
Policy brief: Audiences and Workforce in Arts Culture and Heritage
This policy brief uses census data to provide, for the first time, a comprehensive analysis of audie…
Policy Brief: Transitioning to Sustainable Production across the UK Theatre Sector
This policy brief outlines recommendations for transitioning to more sustainable theatre production …
Government Submissions
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
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…