Asked by: Jim McGovern (Labour - Dundee West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps his Department is taking to (a) tackle the gender pay gap and (b) increase the number of women in the video games industry.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
Changes to the national curriculum mean all children now have the opportunity to learn to code and initiatives such as the Your Life campaign, and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) Ambassadors help challenge gender stereotypes and encourage more girls to consider careers in the video games sector.
We are working with industry on developing new routes into video games development, including the Next Gen Skills Academy and Creative Skillset’s trainee placement scheme. Initiatives specifically designed to help address barriers to women working in the video games industry include the Next Gen Skills Academy's Gender Balance Workforce programme. This is investigating career challenges faced by women in the games industry and offering practical workshops and knowledge sharing, for employees and employers, based on the evidence collected.
For women in the workforce the Government has extended the right to request flexible working to all employees, and is introducing a new system of shared parental leave from April 2015. To help women return to the sector Government will provide support for a dedicated platform to match STEM trained women graduates to return to jobs in industry following career breaks and to provide them with advice and information about support on offer.
The Government will make free software available to all UK companies later this year which will enable them to calculate their gender pay gap easily, and help them identify issues preventing women from progressing in their career
Asked by: Jim McGovern (Labour - Dundee West)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what amount the Government has allocated to the Creative Skillset Skills Investment Fund; how much of that funding has been allocated to the video games industry; and what assessment he has made of the effects of that funding.
Answered by Lord Vaizey of Didcot
DCMS is investing up to £8 million each year in 13/14 and 14/15 through the Skills Investment Fund. With industry match funding, this will support skills development in the film, TV, and video games sectors. By March 2015, Creative Skillset estimate that in total, over £4,300,000 of SIF funding will have been spent on training for the games sector. One element of this Fund, the Trainee Finder scheme, has so far placed 122 trainees in 67 games companies.