Bradley vows to remove growth barriers for creative economy
CULTURE SECRETARY Karen Bradley vowed to “remove the barriers to growth” in the UK’s creative economy, after the publication of a report suggesting the sector could help create one million new jobs by 2030.
The Government-commissioned independent report by ITV chairman Sir Peter Bazalgette found that the creative industries contribute nearly £90bn a year to the economy – more than five per cent of the total economy and comparable with the construction or information sectors. And it said the sector could be worth £128.4bn by 2025.
The sector has outperformed other areas of the economy in terms of job creation, increasing by 300,000 jobs (19.5 per cent) between 2011 and 2015 to top 2m workers.
This compared with an average 6.3 per cent growth across all sectors. And jobs in creative industries like TV, film, games software, music, theatre and design are “highly resistant to automation”, meaning they are likely to make up a larger proportion of the workforce as more occupations are performed by robots and computers, the report said.
Recommendations included: establishing a chain of key creative clusters to link businesses with universities; better protection of intellectual property; a careers programme in secondary schools; and an expansion from 50 to 250 in the number of Saturday Clubs introducing schoolchildren to creative activities.
Ms Bradley formally launched an £80m creative industries clusters programme, inviting bids to find eight areas in the country where creative businesses can form partnerships with universities to help provide skills for future jobs.
“The UK’s creative industries are an economic powerhouse and the Government is committed to removing the barriers to its growth,” said the Culture Secretary. “The key challenge now is turning these ideas into a strong partnership, which is credible and has buy-in from both Government and industry. I encourage the sector to do what it does best – think creatively and work with us on achieving a compelling and ambitious deal.”
Sir Peter said: “In every scenario, the creative industries are set to be of central importance to the UK’s future success.”
Shadow culture secretary Kevin Brennan said it was unfortunate the review did not address “serious concerns about creative education in schools”.