Joe Robertson

I regret that I do not have the extensive music lyric knowledge of my hon. Friend the Member for Gosport (Dame Caroline Dinenage). Neither did I have a career in a rock band like the hon. Member for Wimbledon (Mr Kohler), who, from what he said, seems to have been single-handedly responsible for shutting down a favourite music venue. I have a constituency with a small but growing and thriving creative sector on the Isle of Wight. I am grateful to the Minister for taking my earlier intervention. I will say something about my constituency in a moment, but I will briefly reflect on the national picture. Clearly, there is a consensus across the House that the creative sector is hugely important and needs continuing support from the Government. From 2010 to 2022, it was one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK economy, growing by 50%. I was encouraged by the Minister’s warm words from the Dispatch Box, but clearly support for the creative industries has to go further than warm words. I have no doubt that he is sincere about backing them up with action, but we cannot take that for granted. Neither can we ignore the damaging effects of decisions in the Budget. It was entirely right that the shadow Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Member for Daventry (Stuart Andrew), raised the negative impact of the increases to national insurance employer contributions on the creative sector. We have rightly heard much in the last few months about the negative impact of national insurance contribution rises on businesses, large companies, and the health sector, and I will continue to make those arguments, but I worry that the negative impact on the creative industries has not fully been recognised. Other Opposition Members mentioned it. I hope that the Minister has done this already, but I urge him to ensure that the Treasury does something to compensate the creative industries for the money that this rise will take. He might distribute £60 million, but it will mean little if some, or most, of it is taken back by the Treasury in taxes. The Isle of Wight is well known for lots of things, and is increasingly known as a location for films. That is helped by Osborne House, the former home of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. Films based on her life are often shot on location there, though I have to say that it is not in my constituency but the neighbouring constituency of Isle of Wight West. We have small creative organisations such as Ventnor Exchange, Monkton Arts, and Department in Ryde, which is due to open next month with money from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. We also have historical buildings that are kept alive only by the creative industries that operate in and around them, such as Shanklin theatre, which could not survive without all the volunteer work that is done. In small and large towns across the country, fantastic buildings are kept alive only because of the creative industries that make use of them. I thank the Minister for the offer of a meeting with him or his Department about a film studio on the Isle of Wight. Allow me to make a correction: sadly, the location for the film studio is in the neighbouring constituency of Isle of Wight West. I have already notified the hon. Member for Isle of Wight West (Mr Quigley) that he has received an offer of a meeting through me, which I am sure he will be delighted about. I would like to join him if I can be of assistance, because clearly it will benefit both constituencies on the Isle of Wight to realise that studio. The issue is that while micro-organisations benefit from pots of funding that are suitable for small-scale projects, and clearly national projects of national interest can access money, medium-sized projects such as rural film studios possibly struggle. I look forward to a conversation about that another time.