Welcome to the first Creative Industries Growth Summit. The first national and international gathering of the industries we have chosen to be the centre of our plan for economic growth.
Today I want to talk to you about how, together, we are going to take the brakes off our fastest growing industries and from design and TV to music, video games and fashion, we are going to unleash the power of our creative industries.
To grow our economy. To create good jobs, choices and chances for all our young people. To power the world through our dynamic creative industries.
It’s no accident that we chose to meet here in Gateshead. A town with a proud industrial history. Through iron, steel and coal the people of this town – and this region – powered us through the last century. And Gateshead is now at the forefront of Britain’s cultural renaissance.
Through great institutions like the Baltic and the Glasshouse, sculptures like the Angel of the North, and a growing film industry and video games industry across the region, Gateshead and the North East are a shining example – every bit as striking as the Millennium Bridge – of how you build a living, breathing bridge from our past to our future.
That potential exists in every nation and region of the United Kingdom. Where our world class creative industries have given us a uniquely British brilliance, from the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, Derry Girls in Northern Ireland, the Hay Festival in Wales, the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, and the British Museum in London which pulls in more visitors from around the world than any apart from in New York.
But while governments of every stripe have appreciated the social value of our creative industries, they have consistently underpriced the huge economic potential of industries that are already among our most powerful engines of growth. That ends with us.
I shouldn’t have to say it but I do. From theatre to fashion, advertising to publishing, the creative industries have grown one and a half times faster than the rest of the economy. You together in this room are responsible for creating one in seven jobs through the creative economy. You contribute £124 billion to our economy. Your industries generate nearly 6% of our GVA.
Paul Simon once sang: “Every generation throws a hero up the pop charts.” There are only three countries that are net exporters of music. That is so uniquely true of Britain. We are the musicians, the creators, the storytellers, who tell our story, light up the world and power this economy. That is the talent and ambition that you have, that has built sectors that were worth more to the economy in 2022 than aerospace, life sciences and the automotive industries combined.
But too often you’ve done extraordinary things, not in partnership with your government, but despite it. You’ve been knocking on doors in Whitehall for far too long with a clear message. You want the stability that gives investors confidence to back you. You want a government willing to take a bulldozer to every barrier to growth.
Well today we’re throwing those doors wide open. We share your passion. We match your ambition and we are going to back you to the hilt as one of only eight industries that we believe will power us through the next century.
I’m delighted that Baroness Shriti Vadera has agreed to lead us through this new chapter as the next chair of our revamped Creative Industries Council. She and the titan that is Sir Peter Bazalgette have wasted no time in setting to work on the Sector Plan, which is our dedicated plan in the Industrial Strategy that will guide us forwards.
But as we put those plans in place to carry the torch forwards, you’ve been nothing but straight with us about what is holding you back. And we’ve heard it loud and clear. Investment, innovation, international competitiveness, and skills. So today in all of these areas we’re taking the brakes off our fastest growing industries and inviting you to motor ahead.
We’re starting by making sure you have the investment and backing you need. Like every part of the UK economy, the creative industries have amazing start-ups that struggle to scale up. The growth potential is huge, but the investments are often wrongly deemed too risky and this is particularly true outside London and the South East – forcing great British creative businesses to look overseas to scale.
We are determined to keep that creative pound here in the UK. So as a first step to addressing that all-important finance barrier, the British Business Bank, which supports over £17 billion in finance for businesses already, is committing to increase the scale of its support for the creative industries.
Backing capital fund managers to invest in UK creatives, supporting those experts who understand the unique strengths of this sector in the UK. And we are asking the British Business Bank to report to us on its investment in the creative industries, so that we know the real world impact it is having.
Secondly, we’re taking steps today to address some of the principal barriers to innovation, research and development investment. Time and again we’ve seen examples of creative businesses coming up with innovations that go on to benefit the wider economy.
3D modelling, pioneered for video games, is now employed by Rolls Royce in developing engines.
Visualisation technologies are helping bring down the backlog in the NHS, helping surgeons at hospitals like University College Hospital, to increase the number of prostate operations they do every year. That is lives changed because of the work you are doing.
It’s why the Prime Minister’s Council of Science and Technology recommended that public investment in R&D in the creative industries reflect the size, economic contribution and future growth potential of the sector.
So today we are announcing that we will strengthen the investment from our national research funding agency UKRI into creative R&D.
This means building on the success of the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and programmes like the Creative Clusters Programme. It means UKRI will develop a specific new strategy to support the creative industries.
And it means a long-term investment plan for innovation and growth in the sector, allowing us to build world-leading infrastructure around the UK. And again, to underline this commitment, the Government will ask UKRI to report on its investment in the creative industries.
Because underpinning this is our belief that public and private investment should better reflect the creative industries’ contribution to the economy and its enormous growth potential.
But as we embrace new innovation across the country, we will do it in a way that works for creatives, rather than just paying lip service to your concerns. Creators have always been at the cutting edge of new technologies.
But we hear creators’ concerns and we recognise the worry that AI is an existential threat to livelihoods. There is no value without content. I want to assure you in the clearest possible terms: creatives are at the core of our AI strategy.
When it comes to copyright we’re unambiguous in our desire for a copyright regime that provides creators with real control, transparency and ensures they can license their content.
Thirdly, we’re taking on the skills shortages holding your industries back. We are proud to be supporting major investment projects like the Crown Works film studio in Sunderland. But too often what I hear from young people is that they could no more dream of getting those jobs than going to the moon.
That is not just a tragic waste of human potential. It’s bad business.
It’s why people like Stephen Knight, the creator of Peaky Blinders, who is working to bring in a film school in Birmingham, is recruiting and training 20% of his workforce from local postcodes.
It is essential for investors to know that they don’t have to incur the costs of shipping people in to work on a project, because that talent exists everywhere, but opportunity does not.
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So, the Education Secretary has announced a review of the curriculum. As part of that we are putting creativity, art, music, culture and sport back at the heart of the curriculum, supporting culture and creativity through the education system.
We’re going to introduce shorter apprenticeships from August 2025. This is one of our first steps towards a more flexible Growth and Skills Levy, recognising the particular needs of this sector.
A movie can take six months to film, while the inflexible apprenticeship model we inherited requires a commitment to 12. We’re knocking down these needless hurdles and this is just the start.
Skills England, along with DfE and my department, are now committing to work with creative employers to identify where else the apprenticeship system can be more flexible to help them get the skills they need, when they need them.
We want kids growing up in Gateshead and Wigan to know that they have a contribution to make, that is seen and is valued. And that contribution is not just for Britain – it’s for the world.
Because our creative industries aren’t just at the heart of our Industrial Strategy and our economic plan, but right at the centre of our ambition to reconnect Britain to the world.
This week the Foreign Secretary and I put the creative industries at the heart of our new Soft Power Council which we lead together and we launched on Wednesday.
We both know that when it comes to international competitiveness, we cannot afford to stand still. So in Europe we are working together to unlock closer cooperation to support our touring artists and those across the EU.
We’ve wasted no time in introducing tax credits for VFX and independent film. A shining example of how industry and government working together drives investment, creates jobs and allows the best storytellers in the world to tell those stories to the world.
And to drive the sector’s international impact, the Secretary of State for Business and Trade and I are extending the Music Export Growth Scheme, which will help great artists to take their talent to the next level. Because nobody has a monopoly on talent.
I spent three of the happiest years of my life just over the Tyne Bridge at Newcastle University. And apart from having to get used to being called a southerner, those years introduced me to the very rich culture and heritage here in the North East.
And when I look around this region, it is obvious to me, as it is to so many of you, that this is a region that should be the Hollywood of the UK. With its innovation, its work ethic, its ability to reinvent and reimagine itself.
There is a reason why investors are clamouring to invest here. Not just the creativity of the people, and the strong local leadership, but the beauty of the backdrops and the sheer scale of the space to build film studios like Crown Works in Sunderland.
So it is extraordinary that for 19 of the last 20 years only two regions – London and the South East – have had the backing and investment to make a net contribution to the public purse.
Trying to grow the economy while ignoring the potential in most parts of Britain is like trying to fly a jet on only one engine. So as well as breaking down the barriers to investment, innovation and skills, we are going to build on what you’ve started through the Sector Plan – learning from the success of London as a global hub, to turbocharge the growth of the creative industries right across the UK.
There is huge untapped potential across our country, from the music industry in Liverpool to film and TV production here in the North East. And we know mayors and local businesses – like Kim McGuiness here in the North East and Tracy Brabin who has led trade delegations and created cultural collaborations all over the world – know better than anyone how to unlock this creativity, innovation, and growth.
That is why today we are announcing new funding for six Mayoral Strategic Authorities with high potential, which local leaders will be able to spend and invest on what they know local creative industry businesses need. They are: the North East, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, West Yorkshire, the West Midlands, and the West of England.
This is just the first step in boosting growth in all parts of the country. The Sector Plan will include further support that will benefit all businesses wherever they are based. We will work with any part of the country that wants to prioritise the creative industries in their local growth plan.
Alongside that, we are putting money where our mouth is. Today the Chancellor and I are committing £40 million of funding toward the creative industries in the next fiscal year. Including funding 127 businesses to take growth to the next level – including 11 here in the North East of England.
That’s new funding for creators and creative businesses, major music labels, film studios and fashion houses. It is a serious sign of our belief in these industries and breaking down the barriers, so that many of you in this room can do the same.
And this is just the first step. In the months ahead we will be taking more action, developing the Industrial Strategy across Whitehall and knocking down these barriers in the way of this sector’s growth.
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