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 financial impact on freelance workers in the UK television and creative industries of outstanding Covid-era Government-backed loans issued to limited company contractors, where new technologies have displaced competencies.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport recognises the vital contribution that freelancers provide to the cultural ecosystem of this country. We are taking a number of steps to support this part of the creative workforce, as set out in our Creative Industries Sector Plan, and that is why we will shortly announce the appointment of a Freelance Champion, who will advocate for the creative sector’s freelancers within government.

The government has made no assessment of the financial impact on freelance workers in the UK television and creative industries of Covid-era Government-backed loans issued to limited company contractors.