Creative Industries: Creating Jobs and Productivity Growth

Baroness Prashar Excerpts

Thursday 6th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Prashar (CB)]

My Lords, it is a pleasure to follow the noble Lord, Lord Lemos. I warmly congratulate him on his magnificent maiden speech. It was characteristically crisp, succinct and to the point. As is evident from his speech, the noble Lord is indeed multifaceted and a multitasker, though with a very sharp intellect. I describe him as a Renaissance man with panache. He has devoted his career to public and social policy and to the creative arts with great distinction. The noble Lord is also an author. He has written some very good books with some creative thinking about prisons. I recommend them to your Lordships. Some 30-plus years ago, he worked with me at the Arts Council and the Civil Service Commission, and we have been friends ever since, so noble Lords can imagine that I am delighted that he is now in your Lordships’ House where he will make a magnificent contribution. We will all benefit from his enormous experience, expertise, good judgment and, of course, his sense of fun. I welcome him.

I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Thornton, for introducing this debate. As we have heard, the creative industries generate jobs, innovation and growth, bring in inward investment, enhance our international standing and are a vehicle for our soft power. The strength of the creative sector is also felt regionally and locally, promoting opportunities for well-being, inclusion and the enjoyment of individuals and communities.

The Government have rightly identified the creative industries as one of the eight growth-driving sectors. Their positive announcements are very encouraging. However, as we have heard, regional disparities remain, and inequalities persist. We have heard about class inequalities. As we have also heard, the potential for growth is huge. To unleash this potential, we have to ensure imaginative, joined-up and focused action. The devil, as ever, is in the detail and in the execution of policies.

It is important not to lose focus on some of the smaller subsectors. As Creative UK and the Crafts Council have pointed out, certain subsectors, such as traditional arts and heritage sectors, may find it a challenge to demonstrate immediate, high, short-term growth but have long-term potential as incubators for the cultural and creative industries and as important enablers of growth. Equally important are initiatives to address skills shortages and access flexible finance. What is needed are flexible apprenticeships, vocational education, better funded creative arts education in schools and a more tailored approach to stimulate different subsectors ranging from music and theatre to games and the interactive entertainment industry. Equally important are digital education, humanities and research and development in universities because we must look after humanities in our universities.

This is a moment of huge opportunity to reimagine growth financing and find imaginative solutions to tackle regional disparities, particularly against the background of greater devolution. As has been suggested by the RSA and others, this requires joining up local clusters into creative corridors to enable collaboration and the transference and cross-pollination of ideas and skills. In other words, it is about creating an ecosystem for mutual benefit and systemic change. The Government’s announcements are right, but can the Minister say whether the issues that I have mentioned are high on the agenda? How are they being implemented? Are they ensuring that different policies do not cut across each other?

My final point is about something that others have alluded to: our gold-standard IP rights framework, which is the bedrock for creators and must be protected. While creative industries have embraced AI, generative AI, which uses models to create new content, is where issues are being experienced in relation to IP. Material is being used without permission or payment, which is plain wrong and unlawful and devalues human creativity. Arguments about this issue were forcefully advanced last week by the noble Baroness, Lady Kidron, and the noble Lord, Lord Foster, so I will not rehearse them. I know that the Government have launched a consultation, but strong concerns remain. It would therefore be helpful to get an assurance that the Government will not make any changes that jeopardise the creative sector and put undue burdens on creators. As everyone has said, the creative industries are extremely important for individuals. As the saying goes: if you have two pennies, use one to feed yourself and the other to feed your soul.