Still work to do
Jocelyn Bailey highlights the remaining obstacles for the DCMS to address in order to properly value creativity and culture.
Since 2010, not least through vehicles like the Creative Industries Council that have sought improved relations between government and industry, the attention given to measurement of the economic contribution of the creative industries has increased. Nonetheless, a series of unresolved issues remain.
First, DCMS has acknowledged that the industrial classification systems used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) poorly captures the contribution of some creative industry sectors – such as crafts, music, fashion, computer games. Unfortunately, both DCMS and ONS are constrained by the fact that this classification system is internationally agreed, and they will continue to be so until the whole system can be updated to reflect changes in industrial structure.
Second, freelancing has become more common, particularly in the creative industries, but key data series maintained by the ONS, such as the Annual Business Survey, focus on businesses above the VAT threshold, which means that the economic contribution of freelancers and micro-businesses risks being understated… Keep reading on BOP Consulting
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