In response to the real-terms cuts to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s budget announced in the Spending Review, Dame Caroline Dinenage, Chair of the Culture, Media and Sports Committee of the UK House of Commons, said: “A real-terms cut for DCMS is the wrong choice by the Chancellor. Promises of significant increases for the creative industries are welcome, although the detail needed to scrutinise this claim is lacking. There are also the huge unanswered questions of how the Department is going to manage these cuts, and what parts of culture, media and sport will be made to bear the brunt of them.”

“At the same time, a real-terms cut to the FCDO puts the UK’s soft power credentials and the sustainability of the BBC World Service in question, risking undermining the Chancellor’s promise of securonomics. As geo-politics become more uncertain, we cannot afford to simply step back and create a vacuum for hostile states’ media to fill.”

“My Committee will be scrutinising the impact these decisions will have, and looking at the detail of the Creative Industries Sector Plan when it arrives, to see what the full impact of the Chancellor’s decision is,” she confirmed.

The cuus raise “serious alarm bells”, according to Ellie Peers, General Secretary, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain (WGGB), the trade union for professional writers in the UK.

The WGGB suggests that while the Review – which sets out plans for Government spending until 2029 – included a headline figure of nearly £3 billion (€3.6bn) in capital funding for the Culture, Media and Sports sectors, the true picture was a Government department facing real term cuts of 2.8 per cent in capital and 1.2 per cent in resource DEL (Departmental Expenditure Limit) over the Spending Review period. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has also committed to make 5 per cent in savings and efficiencies.

“The creative industries – worth £125 billion to the UK economy – have been identified as one of eight growth sectors by the Government in its Industrial Strategy, so it is puzzling to see the DCMS facing a real terms cut,” commented Peers. “It is a development that raises serious alarm bells, as the freelance writing community cannot sustain any further cuts, especially considering the threat AI already poses to their incomes.”

“If the Government is to stay true to its stated mission of harnessing our creative industries as a driver of growth, then it must invest accordingly. And if it is to deliver on its promise for working people, this must include our writer members, who power this world-leading sector.”

“We look forward to further detail from the Government in its imminent Creative Industries Sector Plan and hope ministers will take urgent action on fair pay, fair treatment, a sustainable sector and copyright and AI, as outlined in our manifesto, Putting writers at the heart of the story. Our members are facing acute and unprecedented challenges across all their different craft specialisms and we continue our campaigning and lobbying work,” she affirmed.

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Tags: Dame Caroline Dinenage, DCMS, Department for Culture Media and Sport, Ellie Peers, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain