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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions her Department has had with relevant stakeholders on the role of a freelance champion in the North East.

We committed in the Creative Industries Sector Plan to appoint a Freelance Champion in 2025, who will work across the UK to advocate for the creative sector’s freelancers within government and be a member of the Creative Industries Council.

We have been working closely with industry through a working group of the Creative Industries Council to inform the role's remit, including organisations who work nationally, such as Bectu and Creative UK. This group developed a draft Terms of Reference, which outlines what industry would like to see from the role including commissioning and/or informing data and evidence gathering on creative industries freelancers; establishing mechanisms to give creative freelancers voice within government policy discussions; and working with a representative cross-section of creative industries stakeholders. We will use this work to inform the role specification prior to appointment.