Creative Industries: North-east

Laurence Robertson Excerpts

Wednesday 9th November 2022 Westminster Hall

[Mr Laurence Robertson (in the Chair)]

I will call Julie Elliott to move the motion, and then the Minister to respond. As is the case with 30-minute debates, there will not be an opportunity for the Member in charge to wind up.

[Julie Elliott (Sunderland Central) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the contribution of the creative industries to the North East.

As ever, it is pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Robertson. Today I will speak about the significance and impact that the arts and cultural sector has on our communities and on the economy and, in particular, the huge benefits that Sunderland has seen from recent developments. Sunderland and the wider north-east has always been a hub for culture and creatives. The recent growth in investment and attention shows just how significant the potential of that sector is, and gives a good indication of where we are headed. The many partnerships that the creative industries have developed in the area over the last few years have boosted the opportunities for jobs, the development of skills, and community engagement, as well as bringing people in from near and far. That benefits the local and regional economy.

The creative industries and cultural sector combined are worth just under £1.5 billion in gross value added to the north-east economy. That shows how much the sector contributes, and, more importantly, how much room there is for growth and how far investment has the potential to go. We have seen a 43% increase in the economic value of the creative industries in the north-east over the last 12 years, since I became a Member of Parliament, and a 10% increase in the cultural sector. That is at a time when the Government have cut council budgets, which has in turn been passed on to the creative and cultural sectors, and the pandemic set the sectors back across the north-east and the country.

There are some 3,500 people employed in the sector in Sunderland, and there are tens of thousands of job opportunities across the north-east. Sunderland is a city that has a creative and cultural sector steeped in history, from historic institutions like the Sunderland Empire—a landmark of the city, dating back to 1907, that welcomes over 300,000 visitors every year and attracts many west end shows—to modern collaborations such as Sunderland Culture.

Sunderland Culture, which has just celebrated its 10th anniversary, was founded by a collaboration of the University of Sunderland, Sunderland City Council and Sunderland Music Arts and Culture Trust. It has delivered programmes in the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art at the National Glass Centre and, most recently, the new Fire Station theatre—the opening of which I had the privilege of attending. It is a stunning auditorium space that has created a home for many of the talented performers of Sunderland. More importantly, it has redeveloped a former fire station, which was a heritage building so has attracted heritage funding. It is beautiful to see that the bars and restaurant attached to the new auditorium are actually the former fire station. The father of my hon. Friend the Member for Stalybridge and Hyde (Jonathan Reynolds) used to work in that fire station, so it is particularly special when he visits.

The Fire Station theatre has already been host to a range of incredible events, and half of those who have come to visit the venue have been from outside the city. That boosts the local economy by bringing people into the city centre who are going to the bars and restaurants and bringing revenue. In the first four years of its existence, Sunderland Culture can boast that the city has attracted 3.5 million visitors to its venues and programmes. It has helped to host over 1,000 exhibitions, performances and events in the city and online, seen almost 40,000 school visits to cultural venues and had over 150,000 participants of all ages. That is truly an incredible achievement.

The cultural investment in the city does not stop there. We currently have the Sunderland Festival of Light down by the seafront and in Roker park—not the former football ground, but the Victorian park. There are ongoing projects, such as Culture House, a project for learning and creating that will sit in the very centre of the city. Yesterday, we also had a formal announcement of a huge new project in the city. Pallion Engineering announced that it had made a planning application for the development of a huge new production space at Pallion shipyard on the banks of the Wear. This is a sensitive subject for people in Sunderland, as we have a long history of shipbuilding in our city, but the river has changed. Many buildings have been built and the possibility of building ships on our river went when the shipyards were closed by the Government in 1988-89. Tyne and Wear Development Company, which did not need planning permission under the Thatcher and Major Governments, was created. That meant many buildings were built on our riverside, making it impossible to build ships again on our river unless buildings were pulled down. Sadly, although I totally understand the emotion of wanting to bring shipbuilding back to our city, it is not realistically possible. The opportunities in that area with offshore wind and refitting are better placed at our port, a little further down the river.

The building that is the subject of the planning permission application was built in the 1970s and closed in 1989 for building ships, although there has been fabrication work there since then. The history and the new production space are both incredible testaments to the history of our city and its contribution to the world, and also an example of the city’s future. The plans are for 500,000 square feet of creative space, maintaining the existing huge structures, with plans to have the largest covered water studio in the world. That will be a huge thing not just for Sunderland and the north-east, but for the country. There is the potential for creating 1,000 new jobs. Although during the second world war, we were the most productive city in the number of ships built, we can once again be a world leader, with the biggest water studio in the world.

Although developments are in their early stages, the plans are being led by production company Metalwork Pictures USA, Broadwick Live, Pallion Engineering and Kajima Corporation of Japan. This is a great opportunity for regeneration of an area that needs it. It is a great opportunity for the growth of our creative sector and a perfect opportunity for the development of skills and training in the local area. The wheels are already in motion in some of these areas, most notably by the opening last year of Fulwell 73’s new office in the University of Sunderland. An organisation co-founded by Sunderland-born Leo Pearlman, it has produced an incredible list of films, TV series, adverts and music videos, not least the famous Netflix series “Sunderland ’Til I Die” about our beloved football club. It is an incredibly welcome addition to the cultural ecosystem of the city, and forms part of a commitment to upskilling and reskilling in the city. That forms part of a plan to ensure that the sector continues to grow. The transferable nature of skills that have been learned in industry or in apprenticeships over to the creative sector is huge. The latest developments by big production companies provide new opportunities for local people to train and work in the creative industries.

I must also pay tribute to North East Screen, a film agency supporting local productions, helping to drive local talent. It supports incoming productions by connecting companies with crews, filming locations and a host of other north-east creatives, helping to develop the many broadcasting projects coming to the region. Last month, for example, an initiative promoting opportunities for comedy creators was announced, as the first development opportunity of its kind, giving comedy creators in the area the chance to pitch their ideas to the BBC, and gain support in bringing their projects to life. The BBC also announced £25 million investment in the region, drawing on partnerships with local authorities, working together to create growth in skills, talent and creative industry infrastructure.

The importance of public service broadcasting and its commitment to regional programming cannot be overestimated. This is another example of its benefits, in addition to the increased allocation of Arts Council funding for the 2023-26 investment round announced last week. I must at this point praise the commitment to our city from Darren Henley, who is regularly a visitor to our city. In fact, in Select Committee, he has said, “I love Sunderland.”

I believe that the success that we have seen in Sunderland and the wider region and the very good examples of collaboration will be for the benefit of the creative industries as a whole, but there is undoubtedly still much more work to do. Although local partnerships are flourishing and we are finding investment through private initiatives such as the one proposed at Pallion shipyards, per capita investment for Sunderland remains well below that for equivalent cities. There is a long way to go on the levelling up to which the Government are committed, to balance investment across the country.

I would like to ask the Minister today about Government support for skills and training to support the sector in Sunderland, the north-east and, indeed, the wider country. I am aware that there is a cross-over in responsibility between Departments, but I believe that it is the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s responsibility to make the case for the cultural and creative sectors to those other Departments. I look forward to a commitment on that issue from the Minister today, to ensure that the growth is sustained, that local people have access to the new opportunities that my city is gaining and that the benefits of the growth are shared. I also ask the Minister what plans she has to support the growth of the creative industries as a whole in the region, to ensure that schemes that bring vital boosts to the local economy are successful and have the support to be sustainable contributors to local economic growth.

What plans do the Government have to support arts training programmes, and to support young people entering the sector? Reskilling and retraining for those already well versed in skills such as construction and those trained as electricians—accountants are in demand in this area as well—is an extremely valuable resource for the creative sector. We need to look not just at bringing people through school, education, higher education and so on, but at some of those transferable skills that, with small tweaks and small training programmes, could be very effective in this area. The University of Sunderland has done an incredible job, now in collaboration with Fulwell 73, to provide an extremely high-quality training programme for young people, but the number of students starting arts courses has fallen in the last 10 years. That simply must be rectified. The value and contribution, and the potential, of the sector must be recognised.

Covid-related issues are ongoing. Many freelancers in this area of work went on to find other jobs at the height of the pandemic, because they slipped through the net of a lot of the support that was available. They have left the industry and are not coming back. We need, and the Government need, to look to see whether that can be addressed to encourage some of those people back with the opportunities that are available.

Some incredible projects have been launched in Sunderland recently, and there is potential from yesterday’s announcement, but there is still a lot of work to do. I look forward to the Minister getting behind the growth in the region’s drive to grow its creative and cultural sector, and I look forward to hearing what she has to say.