Film Industry

Caroline Dinenage Excerpts

Wednesday 9th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call the Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee.

[Dame Caroline Dinenage (Gosport) (Con)]

First, I welcome the Secretary of State’s words. The Select Committee worked hard to get that commitment to tax credits in the Budget earlier this year, and her implementing it at a time when investment in British film—particularly low-budget British film—is at its lowest ebb, is both welcome and timely. Our recollections of the previous Government’s achievements on the creative industries differ. I think that once she has had a little bit of time to get her feet under the table, she will see that she has a hard act to follow on commitment to the creative industries.

When does the Secretary of State expect the Government to confirm the introduction of the visual effects tax credits? They were also announced in the Budget and have been consulted on, and they are also desperately needed and urgent. I would be grateful for an urgent response on that. Does she have any plans to look at the enterprise investment scheme for film and high-end TV? That is also much needed to get investment into British independent film and television. Finally, she spoke about the investment summit. Will she please confirm that the creative industries’ role in that will not just be to add the stardust? They are such a fundamental and integral part of our industrial strategy and they contribute so much to the British economy, so they must be there as a central focal point of her Government’s future industrial strategy.

[Lisa Nandy]

I thank the hon. Member very much. I know from her previous role on the Select Committee that she is a formidable Chair, and I am very much not looking forward to appearing in front of her at the earliest opportunity.

The hon. Member is absolutely right about the visual effects tax credit. We understand how important these reliefs are to the industry and we plan to provide an update as soon as we can, although we have the spending review imminently, and there is work ongoing to ensure that we get right our offer to the creative industries as a whole. On the enterprise investment scheme for high-end TV, I am afraid that the answer is similar, but I would welcome the chance to keep talking to the hon. Member and to members of the Committee, once she has some. On the investment summit, I appreciate her calling me stardust—I do not think I have ever been called stardust before—or did she mean the people that we might bring along? She and I share the view that the creative industries are absolutely central to our economic growth agenda, and I am really pleased that that view is shared by the Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Business and Trade. She will see that at the investment summit next week and in the work that we will release over the next few weeks.