Daily News
Helen Alexander Sets Out CBI Priorities For Creative Industries
Helen Alexander, President of the CBI, on Monday used a speech to the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers to set out the leading business group’s priorities to help facilitate the success of the UK’s creative industries.
Speaking to senior figures from the world of publishing and other industries she said that the CBI would focus on five areas on behalf of members in the creative industries. They are: piracy and protecting intellectual property, regulation, tax, access to finance, and education and skills.
Ms Alexander said: "The recalibration of the UK economy and the building of robust business growth in the years ahead need our creative industries to play an active and increasing role. We want to see far greater recognition of the creative industries and their significance. More coherent strategies are needed to realise the huge potential out there."
She added: "We will be a clear voice that can speak up for the whole sector whose diversity and breadth of activity is both a strength and sometimes a limitation. This is a critical part of UK plc that should and must be championed – must form part of the government’s plans for a more balanced economy."
She emphasised the importance of the creative industries, saying: "By 2013, NESTA (The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) expects there to be around 180,000 creative businesses in the UK, contributing as much as £85bn of added value to the economy – and 150,000 new jobs."
On piracy and protecting intellectual property she said: "Music and film piracy, online publishing rights, counterfeited goods and stolen designs are all sources of concern. We need to act on copyright and protect ourselves. Why, for example, are we the only major country that continues to allow camcorders in cinemas?"
On regulation she said: "We need to get a regulatory philosophy which will allow us to compete globally, and allows competition at the smallest entry level. Regulation is currently constrained by national definitions, rather than international ones which might be more appropriate."
On tax she said: "We must have a stable and competitive tax framework if we're to incentivise IP development and exploitation. Change and uncertainty undermine the confidence of those making long-term investment decisions."
On access to finance she said: "Medium-sized companies have found access to finance particularly hard to come by, and there's no indication this is easing greatly. On top of this, there are risk factors involved that are peculiar to the creative industries. Music, films and books are not seen as safe bets – and so don’t attract investment from banks keen to reduce their exposure to risk.
"The Government’s Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme is meant to help alleviate this, but evidence on the ground from CBI members suggests this isn’t the case... this is particularly damaging at a time when the traditional funding from within the industry is under threat as the music labels struggle under the onslaught of online piracy."
On skills she emphasised the need for science, technology, engineering and maths graduates not just for science research but also for creative areas like video games; the need for basic business skills in smaller creative firms, and basic workforce skills that make young people employable.
Ms Alexander also said that the CBI would champion the creative industries' success: "I believe that they’re a success story which all of us should be proud of, and the part they play in the economy is under-recognised. The CBI will call for recognition and will be doing all it can in the months and years ahead to tell this success story."