At the end of the September, ScreenSkills CEO, Laura Mansfield, and Emelia Quist, Head of Policy and Public Affairs, attended the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool. Here, Emelia shares some of the key activities and updates from the week.
There were a number of fringe events focusing on the screen sector. Creative UK hosted a series of events at their Creative UK Pavilion and there were also fringe events sponsored by Sky, the BBC and CoSTAR Network.
Laura Mansfield took part in a session alongside Bectu, YouTube, Directors UK, Polly Billington MP and Gordon McKee MP for an in-depth discussion on freelancers. Laura called for the forthcoming Freelance Champion, announced by the Government in June to prioritise skills for freelancers.
You might be wondering why ScreenSkills attended a political party conference? In June, the Government published their Industrial Strategy, a 10-year plan to boost investment, productivity, and resilience across the economy. The strategy focuses on eight key sectors with high growth potential – one of which is the Creative Industries and within that the screen sector. The Government has also identified skills as a barrier to growth. These two things place ScreenSkills ambitions and that of industry within the same focus of Government policy.
The Labour Party Conference was a chance to hear about potential directions of future policymaking, collaborate with others and look ahead to the next big political event – the Budget.
Some key points from conference:
- Lisa Nandy, Secretary of State for DCMS reconfirmed the Government’s focus on the regions with areas with strengths in film and TV: Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, North East, West of England, West Midlands and West Yorkshire being awarded £25 million each as part of the Government's Creative Places Growth Fund. The fund will allow local Mayors to support creative professionals and businesses and connect them to skills programmes.
- Keir Starmer’s speech diverged from his predecessor Tony Blair’s ‘Education, Education, Education’ goal of seeing 50% of young people go to university. Starmer announced a new target calling for two-thirds of young people to achieve higher-level skills, either through university, further education, or a “gold standard” apprenticeship by age 25.
- Reform of the Growth & Skills Levy, increasing creative education, AI, tax reliefs, future of public broadcasting, content creators, access and inclusion were all popular topics for discussion.
- For the first time, the UK’s Public Service Broadcasters came together at Labour Party Conference and at the Conservative Party Conference the following week to celebrate the UKs long history of public service broadcasting. As we look ahead to the BBC’s Charter Renewal and await industry leaders to give evidence to the CMS Committee on Children’s TV; the screen industry, online platforms and politicians are likely to have a few more encounters before 2026.