It is always fantastic when an MP asks a question in the House of Commons and the answer reveals something that I have not seen for a long time. This question was answered on Friday and the MP who asked the question was Rachael Maskell who is the Labour MP for York Central. However as well as a York MP she is also the Shadow Minister for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The question focused on the Digital Creative Industries and although it was focused on Yorkshire, in reality the response makes clear that it is not just a Yorkshire opportunity. Well done Rachael and Julia Lopez who is the Parliamentary Secretary of the Cabinet Office and the Minister for State who answered the question. It can be seen here and Julia Lopez referred to Audio Visual which is a theme I am particularly interested in. Here is the question and answer.

Q: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what estimate she has made of the current value of the digital creative industry in York and North Yorkshire; and what estimate she has made of the potential value of that sector in the future.

A: In 2019, our provisional estimates show computer games businesses contributed £25 million to the Yorkshire and The Humber region in gross value added, while audio-visual businesses output totalled £339 million. These sub-sectors boosted the creative industries contribution, which was £3.4 billion (3%) of the region’s GVA in 2019.

Looking to the future, we are developing a Creative Industries Sector Vision which will set out our ambition for the sector up to 2030. As part of this, the government recently announced £50 million of growth support for creative businesses across the country. Both the Sector Vision and £50 million support package will support the growth of creative businesses, and we are keen to encourage growth in regions across the country.