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

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of administrative data and data intermediaries in improving understanding of employment patterns in the cultural and creative sectors.

DCMS publishes official statistics on Culture and Creative Industries employment. These include statistics on the number of filled jobs using the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey and Labour Force Survey, both household surveys, and skills gaps and shortages from the Department for Education’s Employer Skills Survey.

The department also supports research into the creative industries and jointly with the Creative Industries Council has funded the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre to undertake the creative employers skills survey. This is a new survey of 1,300 businesses across the creative industries in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland that aims to add to our understanding of the skills challenges of today and the talent and skills that will be crucial to the success of the industry in the future.

The understanding that we gain from this data is important for informing our policy work on workforce practice, job quality, careers and training pathways in the creative industries. The main data sources that DCMS currently draw on in these areas are survey based and are not based on administrative data. However, DCMS keeps its statistics and research requirements under review to ensure decision making is based on the best available evidence, including exploring administrative and other data sources where relevant.