Public Affairs Despatch: Election Special

Lisa Nandy MP has been appointed Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Peter Kyle MP has been appointed Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, Innovation and Technology. Sir Chris Bryant MP will serve as a Minister of State for both departments.   

All have many years of public service in the community and at Westminster, and have great familiarity with their policy areas. Directors UK is writing to all three to welcome them to their new roles and bring to their attention the key issues which most affect our members — including the high levels of unemployment in the UK film and TV production ecosystem, and the need for benefits, tax systems and pensions that support freelancers as they do for PAYE workers.

• To address the problems faced by creative freelancers we reiterated our call to introduce a Freelance Commissioner who will represent the interests and concerns of the UK’s 4.3 million freelancers in all Whitehall decisions. This will benefit so many of our members, at relatively little cost to the Treasury.

• We have called for the UK to act on the recommendation in the recent Culture Media and Sport Select Committee report and introduce a Smart Fund scheme.  The scheme would compensate individual creators across the creative industries for the private copying and use of their content on such devices, by placing a small charge on the sale on mobile phones and laptops in the UK. Implementation of the scheme would bring us in line with much of Europe and key states around the world and it has been proven that it will not add to the Cost of Living Crisis or indeed cost the Government anything.  

• AI is now a critical issue for the UK’s creative industries because digital companies have used — “scraped” — creators’ work without permission or payment. We want politicians to make sure that AI developers work with the creative sector and the regulators to uphold and strengthen UK copyright law through transparency, accountability and compensation — things that are key to ensuring the protection of the UK’s gold standard IP protection regime. 

We’re looking forward to working with the Prime Minister, Lisa Nandy MP, Peter Kyle MP, Sir Chris Bryant MP and their ministerial colleagues in tackling the issues faced by the creative sector.  

Our industry is one of the key powerhouses of the UK economy in terms of job creation and economic growth across the country, and this must be recognised and reflected in the decisions made by this Government.