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 assessment of the potential implications for her policies of the Bectu report entitled UK film and TV industry in crisis, published on 26 February 2024.

The UK Government understands the huge value of our world-leading film and TV production sector and the importance of self-employed workers to the sector and wider creative economy.

The UK Government has a clear plan to grow the creative industries by a further £50 billion and support another 1 million jobs by 2030. This was set out in June 2023 in the Creative Industries Sector Vision, which was accompanied by £77 million of new funding to support the sector’s growth. This is on top of a range of tax reliefs for the creative industries that have been introduced or expanded since 2010.

The Government is already taking steps to ensure a strong, skilled and resilient workforce for the film and TV sector - as well as the wider creative industries - across the UK. The Creative Industries Sector Vision set out that by 2030 we want to deliver on our creative careers promise, to build a pipeline of talent into the sector and supports a million extra jobs. The Sector Vision includes a long-term strategy to improve the job quality and working practices in the sector, including supporting the high proportion of self-employed workers through the promotion of fair treatment, support networks and resources (for example through Creative UK's Redesigning Freelancing initiative).

The Government also welcomes the steps that our public service broadcasters have taken to support self-employed workers in response to current pressures. This includes the programme of support Channel 4 and the BBC announced in August, in partnership with the National Film and Television School.

DCMS and industry have also committed to produce an action plan in response to the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre’s Good Work Review, and actions include the recent launch of the British Film Institute’s £1.5 million Good Work Programme for screen. The government will continue to work with the BFI and the Screen Sector Skills Task Force to support a strong skills pipeline in the sector.