Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many cases of TV licence fraud there were in the last year.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government does not hold information on ‘TV licence fraud’.
The BBC is responsible for the collection and enforcement of the licence fee. The BBC’s annual Television Licence Fee Trust Statement provides an estimated evasion rate, which is the predicted number of households required to have a TV licence that do not hold one. The estimated evasion rate for 2023/2024 is 11.3%.
The BBC’s Television Licence Fee Trust Statement for the year ending 31 March 2024 can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66a0fda0fc8e12ac3edb03e3/E03119946_-_HC_xxx_BBC_Wales_-_Licensing_Fee_Trust_Statement_ARA_23-24_Accessible.pdf
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an estimate of the number and proportion of young people that had access to a youth centre within five miles of their home in (a) 2010, (b) 2015 and (c) 2024.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport does not hold the data requested.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many youth centres have been in operation each year since 2010.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport does not hold the data requested.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of challenges within the video games industry.
Answered by Julia Lopez
The Government is committed to the success of the UK games sector and we work closely with industry to support its future growth.
This includes the £13.4 million UK Games Fund supporting new IP and talent and generous video games tax reliefs.
However, we are also focused on building a talent pipeline through the Creative Careers Programme, T-Levels and bootcamps, and local skills improvement plans. Additionally, we have worked closely with industry to deliver guidance on loot boxes, and developed a video games research framework to inform future policy making.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of UK Research and Innovation's (a) Convergent Screen Technologies And Performance in Realtime (CoSTAR), (b) Creative Catalyst and (c) creative industries clusters programme on support for UK video game development studios.
Answered by John Whittingdale - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The recently published Creative Industries Sector Vision sets out the Government’s ambition to maximise the potential of the creative industries. It details our plans to grow these industries by an extra £50bn and create a million extra jobs by 2030, and build a pipeline of talent and opportunity for young people through a Creative Careers Promise.
The Sector Vision was developed in partnership by government and industry, and includes £77 million in new government spending on top of the £233 million of existing public funding since the 2021 Spending Review, including specific measures to support the UK’s thriving video game industry.
The Sector Vision announced an additional £5 million investment in the UK Games Fund (UKGF), to provide content funding to high-potential UK games studios, allowing them to develop their intellectual property, boosting their ability to attract investment and reach their next stage of growth.
The Create Growth Programme (CGP) supports a range of creative businesses, including video games companies. As a result of £10.9 million in additional funding announced in the Sector Vision, the CGP will be expanded to cover 12 English regions outside of London, supporting over 2,000 creative businesses to access private investment and scale up.
The Sector Vision also announced an additional investment of at least £50 million in the next wave of UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Creative Industries Clusters programme. This funding will be used to identify and support at least six new clusters specialising in creative subsectors, building on the existing nine clusters supported by this programme. One of the existing clusters includes InGAME, a research and development (R&D) centre for the video games industry led by Abertay University.
The Convergent Screen Technologies and performance in Realtime (CoSTAR) will establish a new national R&D infrastructure for the next generation of screen and performance technologies, including virtual production.
Additionally, over 200 creative companies across the UK have received a share of £10 million of innovation funding from the first round of Innovate UK’s Creative Catalyst programme. Of these projects, approximately 10% are innovation projects based directly with the UK games sector.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the funding for the UK games fund announced in the creative industries sector vision on the growth of video game development studios.
Answered by John Whittingdale - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The recently published Creative Industries Sector Vision sets out the Government’s ambition to maximise the potential of the creative industries. It details our plans to grow these industries by an extra £50bn and create a million extra jobs by 2030, and build a pipeline of talent and opportunity for young people through a Creative Careers Promise.
The Sector Vision was developed in partnership by government and industry, and includes £77 million in new government spending on top of the £233 million of existing public funding since the 2021 Spending Review, including specific measures to support the UK’s thriving video game industry.
The Sector Vision announced an additional £5 million investment in the UK Games Fund (UKGF), to provide content funding to high-potential UK games studios, allowing them to develop their intellectual property, boosting their ability to attract investment and reach their next stage of growth.
The Create Growth Programme (CGP) supports a range of creative businesses, including video games companies. As a result of £10.9 million in additional funding announced in the Sector Vision, the CGP will be expanded to cover 12 English regions outside of London, supporting over 2,000 creative businesses to access private investment and scale up.
The Sector Vision also announced an additional investment of at least £50 million in the next wave of UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Creative Industries Clusters programme. This funding will be used to identify and support at least six new clusters specialising in creative subsectors, building on the existing nine clusters supported by this programme. One of the existing clusters includes InGAME, a research and development (R&D) centre for the video games industry led by Abertay University.
The Convergent Screen Technologies and performance in Realtime (CoSTAR) will establish a new national R&D infrastructure for the next generation of screen and performance technologies, including virtual production.
Additionally, over 200 creative companies across the UK have received a share of £10 million of innovation funding from the first round of Innovate UK’s Creative Catalyst programme. Of these projects, approximately 10% are innovation projects based directly with the UK games sector.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the advanced screen and performance technology research facilities announced in the creative industries sector vision on video game development studios.
Answered by John Whittingdale - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The recently published Creative Industries Sector Vision sets out the Government’s ambition to maximise the potential of the creative industries. It details our plans to grow these industries by an extra £50bn and create a million extra jobs by 2030, and build a pipeline of talent and opportunity for young people through a Creative Careers Promise.
The Sector Vision was developed in partnership by government and industry, and includes £77 million in new government spending on top of the £233 million of existing public funding since the 2021 Spending Review, including specific measures to support the UK’s thriving video game industry.
The Sector Vision announced an additional £5 million investment in the UK Games Fund (UKGF), to provide content funding to high-potential UK games studios, allowing them to develop their intellectual property, boosting their ability to attract investment and reach their next stage of growth.
The Create Growth Programme (CGP) supports a range of creative businesses, including video games companies. As a result of £10.9 million in additional funding announced in the Sector Vision, the CGP will be expanded to cover 12 English regions outside of London, supporting over 2,000 creative businesses to access private investment and scale up.
The Sector Vision also announced an additional investment of at least £50 million in the next wave of UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Creative Industries Clusters programme. This funding will be used to identify and support at least six new clusters specialising in creative subsectors, building on the existing nine clusters supported by this programme. One of the existing clusters includes InGAME, a research and development (R&D) centre for the video games industry led by Abertay University.
The Convergent Screen Technologies and performance in Realtime (CoSTAR) will establish a new national R&D infrastructure for the next generation of screen and performance technologies, including virtual production.
Additionally, over 200 creative companies across the UK have received a share of £10 million of innovation funding from the first round of Innovate UK’s Creative Catalyst programme. Of these projects, approximately 10% are innovation projects based directly with the UK games sector.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the create growth programme announced in the creative industries sector vision on video game development studios.
Answered by John Whittingdale - Shadow Minister (Health and Social Care)
The recently published Creative Industries Sector Vision sets out the Government’s ambition to maximise the potential of the creative industries. It details our plans to grow these industries by an extra £50bn and create a million extra jobs by 2030, and build a pipeline of talent and opportunity for young people through a Creative Careers Promise.
The Sector Vision was developed in partnership by government and industry, and includes £77 million in new government spending on top of the £233 million of existing public funding since the 2021 Spending Review, including specific measures to support the UK’s thriving video game industry.
The Sector Vision announced an additional £5 million investment in the UK Games Fund (UKGF), to provide content funding to high-potential UK games studios, allowing them to develop their intellectual property, boosting their ability to attract investment and reach their next stage of growth.
The Create Growth Programme (CGP) supports a range of creative businesses, including video games companies. As a result of £10.9 million in additional funding announced in the Sector Vision, the CGP will be expanded to cover 12 English regions outside of London, supporting over 2,000 creative businesses to access private investment and scale up.
The Sector Vision also announced an additional investment of at least £50 million in the next wave of UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Creative Industries Clusters programme. This funding will be used to identify and support at least six new clusters specialising in creative subsectors, building on the existing nine clusters supported by this programme. One of the existing clusters includes InGAME, a research and development (R&D) centre for the video games industry led by Abertay University.
The Convergent Screen Technologies and performance in Realtime (CoSTAR) will establish a new national R&D infrastructure for the next generation of screen and performance technologies, including virtual production.
Additionally, over 200 creative companies across the UK have received a share of £10 million of innovation funding from the first round of Innovate UK’s Creative Catalyst programme. Of these projects, approximately 10% are innovation projects based directly with the UK games sector.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what Government schemes are available to video game development studios wishing to (a) recruit, (b) employ and (c) train university graduates.
Answered by Julia Lopez
The Government is committed to supporting the growth of the UK’s video games sector which brings economic, cultural and social benefits across the UK.
This Government is investing over £100 million to support research and development across the creative industries, which video games developers are able to apply for. This funding supports groundbreaking programmes including Innovate UK’s £30 million for the Creative Catalyst Programme and the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s £75.6 million CoSTAR programme. Video games developers are able to apply for funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) via Innovate UK competitions, and through the upcoming digital twinning research investments from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The Government’s Export Strategy sets out financial support for exporters, including video games developers. The Internationalisation Fund provides co-investment to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with high international growth potential. The Government also provides support at two leading global video games trade shows, Gamescom in Cologne and Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, which enables UK games exporters to engage with potential investors. Financial support is also available to eligible businesses wishing to attend or exhibit at trade shows through the UK Tradeshow Programme pilot.
This Government is working with industry to deliver a new generation of highly skilled workers, and will articulate these plans as part of the upcoming Creative Industries Sector Vision. For video games, the £8 million expansion of the UK Games Fund is providing valuable support to early stage games development businesses and talented graduates throughout the UK. This includes its Tranzfuser programme which mentors teams of talented and entrepreneurial graduates in regional hubs across the UK.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what grants are available for video games developers seeking to export overseas.
Answered by Julia Lopez
The Government is committed to supporting the growth of the UK’s video games sector which brings economic, cultural and social benefits across the UK.
This Government is investing over £100 million to support research and development across the creative industries, which video games developers are able to apply for. This funding supports groundbreaking programmes including Innovate UK’s £30 million for the Creative Catalyst Programme and the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s £75.6 million CoSTAR programme. Video games developers are able to apply for funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) via Innovate UK competitions, and through the upcoming digital twinning research investments from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The Government’s Export Strategy sets out financial support for exporters, including video games developers. The Internationalisation Fund provides co-investment to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with high international growth potential. The Government also provides support at two leading global video games trade shows, Gamescom in Cologne and Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, which enables UK games exporters to engage with potential investors. Financial support is also available to eligible businesses wishing to attend or exhibit at trade shows through the UK Tradeshow Programme pilot.
This Government is working with industry to deliver a new generation of highly skilled workers, and will articulate these plans as part of the upcoming Creative Industries Sector Vision. For video games, the £8 million expansion of the UK Games Fund is providing valuable support to early stage games development businesses and talented graduates throughout the UK. This includes its Tranzfuser programme which mentors teams of talented and entrepreneurial graduates in regional hubs across the UK.