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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she plans to take to support creative industries.

The creative industries are one of the government’s eight priority Industrial Strategy (IS) sectors. In 2023, the sector employed 2.4m people, and contributed £124bn in UK GVA – more than 5% of total UK GVA.

Partnership with devolved governments will make the development of the Industrial Strategy a UK-wide effort, and will support the considerable sectoral strengths of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. A creative industries Sector Plan will be published in late Spring in conjunction with the Industrial Strategy. It will set out the biggest opportunities for growth in the creative industries at home and in new markets abroad.

At the Creative Industries Growth Summit in January, we announced a £60 million package of support for the sector, providing a major boost to the wider economy. We also set out new commitments from the British Business Bank, the UK’s economic development bank, and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in January to strengthen their support for the creative industries, in addition to making shorter apprenticeships available from August 2025, building towards a more flexible growth and skills levy. These are the first steps we have taken in delivering on our ambitions for the creative industries, with more to be set out with the publication of the Sector Plan.