The House of Lords Communications Committee warns that Government complacency risks undermining the UK’s creative industries in the face of increased international competition and rapid technological change.
In a report published today, the Committee says that the UK’s creative industries should sit at the heart of the UK’s economic growth plans. But the Committee sounds the alarm over missed opportunities and a failure among senior Government figures to recognise the sector’s commercial potential.
The UK’s creative industries were worth more than £115bn to the UK economy before the pandemic, and make up as many as one in eight businesses across the country.
Their contribution to the economy in 2019 was more than the aerospace, life sciences and automotive industries combined. The sector also delivers higher levels of innovation than many other areas of the economy. Countries across the world are competing for a slice of the lucrative opportunities in the sector: global exports of creative services alone exceeded $1 trillion in 2020 – more than double what it was in 2010.
The Committee draws attention to the implications of technology-related disruption, and warns that the UK risks losing its leading position in this fast-growing industry. The Committee concludes the Government has a major opportunity to put the creative sector at the heart of its future growth agenda but is failing to do so.
The report calls on the Government to unlock the sector’s potential by fixing policies “characterised by incoherence and barriers to success”. The report acknowledges the Government’s ongoing work but says urgent action is needed to ensure the UK does not fall behind fast-moving international competitors. Issues of concern include: allowing other countries to overtake the UK on providing more competitive tax incentives; blind spots in education and skills policy; proposals to relax intellectual property law which threaten creative sector business models; the ending of the Creative Industries Clusters Programme; and a failure to take seriously the creative industries illustrated by the perception across government that DCMS remains the “ministry of fun” rather than a key driver of economic growth.
Baroness Stowell of Beeston, Chair of the Committee, commented:
“The UK’s creative industries are an economic powerhouse and have been a huge success story. But the fundamentals that underpin our success are changing, and rivals are catching up. The Government’s failure to grasp both the opportunities and risks is baffling.
“International competitors are championing their creative industries and seizing the opportunities of new technology. But in the UK we’re seeing muddled policies, barriers to success, and indifference to the sector’s potential. We acknowledge the Government has introduced important programmes in recent years, but we are concerned past success has bred complacency.
“Our report sets out some immediate challenges that the Government can address now. These include improving R&D tax policy to stop excluding innovation in the creative sector; abandoning plans to relax intellectual property rules which would undercut our creative businesses; making the Department for Education wake up to the reality that the future lies in blending creative and digital skills rather than perpetuating silos; and urging senior figures across Government to take the creative sector’s economic potential more seriously.”
