Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to increase the competitiveness of the (a) visual effects and (b) animation industry.

The Government has prioritised film and television as a high-growth sub-sector in the Industrial Strategy and Creative Industries Sector Plan.

Many of the interventions in the £75 million Screen Growth Package we announced in the Sector Plan will benefit VFX and animation. For example, we are scaling up the UK Global Screen Fund to £18 million per year, which will include a new majority co-production strand for UK animation. Through the Sector Plan, we will ensure that the UK continues to develop world-class talent, facilities and innovation in animation and VFX, including through £10 million to expand capacity and apprenticeships at the National Film & Television School, and £25 million for five new CoSTAR labs advancing augmented reality and motion capture technologies.

In addition, we continue to offer generous and stable tax credits - including the new credit for VFX costs in film and TV we introduced last year, and recent changes to R&D credits which now better recognise artists' roles in addressing scientific and technological challenges. In addition, the British Business Bank is increasing financial backing for the Creative Industries opening new opportunities for screen businesses and IP creators.

DCMS remains in close contact with UK Screen Alliance and Animation UK on the sector's opportunities and challenges.