Question to the Department for International Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment he has made of the economic contribution of (a) design and (b) design skills to UK exports.

The Government recognises and champions the significant contribution that design and design skills play within the UK economy, particularly as a key factor in the production of services and goods across a wide range of sectors.

The Design Council produced a report into the Design Economy in 2018 which estimated that in 2015 the total value of exports where design had made a key contribution was £48.4 billion. The report also found that gross value added generated by the design economy increased by 52% between 2009 and 2016, with over 1.69 million people employed in the design economy and over 78,000 design intensive firms operating in the UK in 2017.

DCMS estimates that the wider creative sector was worth £92bn in 2016 and is growing twice the rate of the economy as a whole. This was up from £85bn the previous year.