Asked by: Tristan Osborne (Labour - Chatham and Aylesford)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking with the Secretary of State for Education to ensure that her proposals for curriculum reform align with the needs of the creative industries.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Creative Industries Sector Plan sets out this Government’s 10-year plan to tackle barriers to growth and maximise opportunities across the sector, with the aim of making the UK the number one destination for creativity and innovation by 2035. The plan sets out how Government and industry are working together to grow a creative workforce that supports job creation and drives economic growth in this high-potential sector, through an education and skills system aligned with business needs. The Plan has been designed in collaboration with business, Devolved Governments, and regions, with the Creative Industries Taskforce also playing a crucial role in gathering wider views from across industry.
The Plan includes delivering a curriculum in England that readies young people for life and work, including in creative subjects and relevant skills. The Independent Curriculum and Assessment Review is one of the ways that Government will deliver on the commitment to reform the system for the benefit of the creative talent pipeline. The Review has a focus on all subjects in the national curriculum and is being informed by evidence, data and in close consultation with education professionals and other experts. This includes over 7,000 responses to the public call for evidence, including from the creative industries. The Review final report and Government response will be published in the autumn.
Asked by: Connor Naismith (Labour - Crewe and Nantwich)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department is taking steps to help support male voice choirs.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
His Majesty’s Government has a strong commitment to all forms of music, including choral music. Local choirs are an important part of many people’s lives across the UK, providing a creative outlet and strong sense of community, as well as an accessible, enjoyable cultural experience enjoyed by people of all ages.
The Government supports the arts financially, including choirs and singing, through its arm’s-length body Arts Council England. The Arts Council does not have a specific category for identifying investment in ‘male choirs’, however, for the financial year 2024/25 Arts Council England funded activity with a choral focus or element by nearly £44 million. This funding has supported the development, touring and promotion of choral music throughout England. Organisations supported by this funding include Ex Cathedra, a nationally recognised choir with a repertoire that reaches from the 12th to the 21st centuries.
Within the Music and Dance Scheme, the Department for Education continues to fund bursaries for training choristers through the Choir Schools’ Association.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure transparency for consumers in the use of AI-generated music on streaming platforms; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of AI-generated music on artists.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
AI presents both significant opportunities and challenges for the creative industries, including music. We recognise concerns regarding AI-generated content on streaming platforms and are engaging with relevant music industry stakeholders to better understand the implications. On AI and copyright specifically, the Secretaries of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have jointly chaired three meetings with representatives of the creative and AI sectors. We are also establishing industry-expert working groups and a parliamentary working group to give Members the opportunity to share their views on AI. Our goal is to put in place measures and funding that will help create the conditions for our UK artists to remain globally competitive.
This government is dedicated to supporting UK artists, including emerging talent, to thrive and achieve their full potential. As part of this Government’s Industrial Strategy, the Creative Industries Sector Plan published in June set out our ambition to unlock new opportunities for innovation across the creative sector and wider economy while ensuring a trusted copyright regime that values and protects human creativity.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has had discussions with representatives of the music industry on the potential impact of trends in the level of AI-generated music available through streaming platforms on the music industry.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
AI presents both significant opportunities and challenges for the creative industries, including music. We recognise concerns regarding AI-generated content on streaming platforms and are engaging with relevant music industry stakeholders to better understand the implications. On AI and copyright specifically, the Secretaries of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have jointly chaired three meetings with representatives of the creative and AI sectors. We are also establishing industry-expert working groups and a parliamentary working group to give Members the opportunity to share their views on AI. Our goal is to put in place measures and funding that will help create the conditions for our UK artists to remain globally competitive.
This government is dedicated to supporting UK artists, including emerging talent, to thrive and achieve their full potential. As part of this Government’s Industrial Strategy, the Creative Industries Sector Plan published in June set out our ambition to unlock new opportunities for innovation across the creative sector and wider economy while ensuring a trusted copyright regime that values and protects human creativity.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the obstacles working class people face to working in the film and television sectors.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
A creative career should never be the preserve of a privileged few. The sector’s skilled and dynamic workforce is one of its key strengths, but more work still needs to be done so that, regardless of their background, people feel that a creative career is an option for them.
Making creative careers accessible for everyone is a key priority for the Government. That is why we are supporting creative apprenticeships and providing funding for partners including Screenskills and the BFI Film Academy to open pathways for young people, in particular those from underrepresented backgrounds.
The Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) is working with industry to deliver a UK-wide £9 million Creative Careers Service, which aims to build awareness of creative careers and provide specialist advice with a particular focus on priority areas where children face the greatest barriers to accessing creative opportunities.
In film and TV specifically, we announced in the Creative Industries Sector Plan that we will be investing £75 million in the UK’s film and TV industry over the next three years. This includes support for the next generation of filmmakers.
The Government is pleased to see industry initiatives to monitor and improve diversity in the creative industries such as Project Diamond and the TV Access Project. However, there clearly remains work to do and we want to see stronger efforts from industry to improve socio-economic diversity and representation in the creative industries.
Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to improve socio-economic diversity and representation in the creative industries.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
A creative career should never be the preserve of a privileged few. The sector’s skilled and dynamic workforce is one of its key strengths, but more work still needs to be done so that, regardless of their background, people feel that a creative career is an option for them.
Making creative careers accessible for everyone is a key priority for the Government. That is why we are supporting creative apprenticeships and providing funding for partners including Screenskills and the BFI Film Academy to open pathways for young people, in particular those from underrepresented backgrounds.
The Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) is working with industry to deliver a UK-wide £9 million Creative Careers Service, which aims to build awareness of creative careers and provide specialist advice with a particular focus on priority areas where children face the greatest barriers to accessing creative opportunities.
In film and TV specifically, we announced in the Creative Industries Sector Plan that we will be investing £75 million in the UK’s film and TV industry over the next three years. This includes support for the next generation of filmmakers.
The Government is pleased to see industry initiatives to monitor and improve diversity in the creative industries such as Project Diamond and the TV Access Project. However, there clearly remains work to do and we want to see stronger efforts from industry to improve socio-economic diversity and representation in the creative industries.
Asked by: Maya Ellis (Labour - Ribble Valley)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many (a) museums and (b) local arts and cultural organisations have received funding from Arts Council England in (i) Ribble Valley constituency and (ii) Lancashire.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Between 2023/24 and 2024/25 four arts and cultural organisations in the Ribble Valley constituency received Arts Council England funding totalling £81,281. For the same period, three museums and 114 arts and cultural organisations received Arts Council England Funding in Lancashire, with awards totalling £11,721,145.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of making Scottish Gàidhlig an official language of the United Kingdom.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DCMS has made no such assessment.
Asked by: Jess Brown-Fuller (Liberal Democrat - Chichester)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department has to help increase (a) participation in and (b) access to dance in local communities.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Improving access to the arts is a priority for this Government. Dance plays a central role in our country’s cultural ecology, from organisations like the English National Ballet and Rambert through to the community clubs across the country that ensure the talent pipeline for dancing of all styles continues to thrive.
The government supports the arts financially, including dance, through its arm’s-length body Arts Council England. Arts Council England has provided over £58 million to 153 organisations across England over 2024/25 to support dance. For instance, the Royal Ballet and Opera’s initiative “The Bridge” provides funding for working with schools and community groups nationwide to involve individuals in opera and ballet.
ACE also provides £450,000 in funding to the National Youth Dance Company, which offers high-quality training and performance opportunities through outreach to communities with higher proportions of young people from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds.
Asked by: Greg Smith (Conservative - Mid Buckinghamshire)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to encourage foreign investment.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This Government is committed to encouraging international investment to drive economic growth. DCMS’s work to promote investment into the culture and creative industries, media and sport sectors is an important part of this.
Most recently, through the Creative Industries Sector Plan we committed to provide £10 million to expand the National Film and Television School which will unlock £11 million of private investment, including from major overseas companies. We have also recently brought together sporting stakeholders and investors in the third annual One Goal Investment Symposium to highlight opportunities for foreign investment into the sport sector.
The whole Government uses its international engagements to encourage investment from overseas, India being a prime example. On her visit to India earlier this year, the Secretary of State signed a cultural cooperation agreement that will boost cultural exchange and encourage long-term institutional partnerships. On the Prime Minister’s recent visit to India, with a large business and cultural delegation, we secured a commitment from Yash Raj Films to bring new productions to the UK, attracted to the UK by our skillsbase and competitive tax system. This will create over 3,000 jobs and boost the economy by millions of pounds. On the same visit, the Government announced that the Science Museum has received an unprecedented eight-figure donation from the Serum Institute of India to support the transformation of one of the museum’s most iconic spaces.