A new interministerial group to boost collaboration between the four UK governments on culture and creative industries policy has been set up, and met for the first time last month.
The Culture and Creative Industries Interministerial Group supports effective engagement and collaboration in areas of shared interest between the portfolio ministers leading on culture and creative industries policy within the four UK governments.
The Cabinet Office confirmed in a response to a Scottish Affairs Committee report on public broadcasting in April 2023 that the interministerial group would be set up.
It said the Culture and Creative Industries Interministerial Group would aim to “provide the space for collaboration and knowledge exchange on all areas of culture and creative industries policy, including the screen industry” and that officials from across the four nations had been working together to launch it.
Details of its first meeting, on 2 May, were published last week.
The following ministers attended the meeting:
- For the UK Government: culture secretary Lucy Frazer (chair)
- For the Northern Ireland Executive: Gordon Lyons, minister for communities
- For the Scottish Government: Angus Robertson, cabinet secretary for constitution, external affairs and culture
- For the Welsh Government: Lesley Griffiths, cabinet secretary for culture and social justice
At the meeting, ministers confirmed the terms of reference for the group, highlighted upcoming major cultural domestic and international events, and acknowledged securing visas for artists and performers smoothly would be essential to the success of many of these events.
They also recognised the funding pressures and financial challenges the cultural and creative sector is experiencing.
Other topics of discussion included:
- The importance of safeguarding out-of-London and out-of-England television production targets
- The continued success of the screen industry in all four nations
- Increased tax relief for creative industries announced at the latest Budget
- Early successes across the UK from initiatives introduced under the Creative Industries Sector Vision
- The positive reception to adding screen studies to the Scottish school curriculum.
Ministers agreed to share best practice and learning to help the sector overcome the challenges raised.
They also expressed their strong desire to convene later this year with the Scottish Government minister as chair.
There are more than a dozen interministerial groups, or IMGs, covering areas such as education, tourism and trade. Other recently-created interministerial groups include the IMG for Justice, which met for the first time in September last year, where ministers discussed the big issues of prison capacity and reducing court backlogs, and the Work and Pensions IMG, which is only between the UK and Welsh governments and also met for the first time in November.
IMGs are the lowest tier of the committee structure for formal multilateral engagement between ministers, which is supplemented by informal interaction at both political and official levels. They are intended to facilitate regular portfolio-level discussion between departmental ministers.
Sitting above them are the Interministerial Standing Committee and Finance Interministerial Standing Committee, which provide a forum for ministers to discuss wider strategic issues, and the Prime Minister and Heads of Devolved Government Council, which sits at the top of the structure.