Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the potential effect on small and medium enterprises in the creative industries of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

The creative industries sector is a major cultural and economic success story for the UK and DCMS have regularly engaged with the sector to ensure that their needs are heard.

The Government firmly believes that it is in the interests of both the EU and the UK to strike a deal. That remains the goal on both sides and we are confident that this will be achieved. But it is the job of a responsible Government to prepare for all scenarios, including the unlikely event that we reach March 2019 without agreeing a deal.

To date, we have published a series of 77 technical notices so that businesses and citizens have time to prepare in the event of a ‘no deal’ scenario, with further to follow. These do not reflect the totality of our plans, and do not reflect an increased likelihood of ‘no deal;’ an acceleration at this point was long-planned to ensure plans are in place by March 2019 in the unlikely scenario they are needed.

We understand that small and medium enterprises make up a large part of the creative industries. Regardless of whether we leave the EU with a deal, the government is working with industry leaders to deliver £150m of joint government and industry investment as part of our Sector Deal. We will always welcome those with the skills, the drive and the talent to make our creative industries thrive.