Film Industry

Debate between Gavin Williamson and Lisa Nandy

Wednesday 9th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Lisa Nandy]

Having visited Croydon, I would say that it promotes itself. I also know that my hon. Friend will be an incredible champion for her community; she is already proving it by singing the virtues of Croydon. All the many film makers and film studios that have welcomed this announcement with open arms will have heard loud and clear what she has to say about the benefits of Croydon and will hear what she has to say in the future. I am sure that Croydon and the young people my hon. Friend represents will be part of the success story of this next chapter of our national story.

[Sir Gavin Williamson (Stone, Great Wyrley and Penkridge) (Con)]

I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement. One of this sector’s real challenges, as she rightly pointed out, is skills. So many of those working in the sector are freelance. Will the Secretary of State give some thought to how we can get some of the larger players to act as incubators to bring through more talent and support, as they have the full breadth of resources that are needed?

[Lisa Nandy]

I recognise the challenge that the right hon. Gentleman lays down. The freelance sector represents 50% of the creative industries, and we are alive to the need to protect flexibility in the industry while ensuring that people are treated and paid well and that there is the incubation and talent pipeline that he mentioned. The independent film sector is crucial to that. I mentioned three film directors, all of whom came up through the independent film sector. Some of our greatest work has been produced there, and the people involved have gone on to produce blockbusters. The right hon. Gentleman is right to say that there are big players in the sector, some of whom are doing an incredible job, but by doing so, they prove that others could do more.

Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill

Debate between Gavin Williamson and Lisa Nandy

Tuesday 8th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Williamson (South Staffordshire) (Con)]

Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to the debate, Madam Deputy Speaker.

If they read Hansard tomorrow, many of my constituents will be under the misapprehension that the last Labour Government were a great welfare-reforming Government, but one of the points that many others will make to me is that that left the legacy of welfare dependency that has corroded so much of our society. The simple reality is that the last Labour Government should have dealt with the issue of welfare reform when they had the opportunity to do so, between 1997 and 2010.

[Lisa Nandy (Wigan) (Lab)]

Research carried out recently by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that no such culture of worklessness existed, and that in fact there was a strong commitment to work among people throughout the country, including the 3,500 unemployed people in my constituency.

[Gavin Williamson]

Where we have a culture in which it sometimes does not pay to take a job or to work more hours, we capture people in a culture of dependency.

How do we measure success? Is it about spending more and more money? Is it about spending money on welfare, constantly and consistently, or is it about results? I think that we on this side of the House believe that it is about results. In 1997, the number of households in which no one had ever worked was 184,000. That number was far too high. Given all the billions of pounds that were spent, we would expect it to have fallen considerably: perhaps by 10,000, perhaps by 50,000, perhaps by 100,000. So what happened? Did it increase or did it fall? It increased, and not by 10,000—