Creative Industries: Participation
Thursday, 12 November 2026
Contributions
Mrs Elsie Blundell (Heywood and Middleton North) (Lab)Labour
14. What steps she is taking to help ensure that people from working-class backgrounds have pathways into the creative industries.
The Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (Lisa Nandy)Labour
This country’s creative industries are world-leading, but for far too many people, they are a closed shop and we are determined to change that. We are investing in the BFI Film Academy to expand opportunities for young people from different backgrounds and parts of the country to be able to work in the film industry. We are investing through our Every Child Can programme to increase disadvantaged young people’s access to enrichment opportunities. But I have to say to my hon. Friend that progress on this has been frustratingly slow, and we will convene the creative industries in the coming weeks to ask them to do more.
From Caroline Aherne to Peter Kay to the Gallagher brothers, in the past in Greater Manchester we have shown that coming from a working-class background has absolutely no bearing on a person’s ability to make a cultural impact. What further steps have been taken to remove barriers to entry into the creative industries and ensure that talented people from all backgrounds are given the opportunity to shine?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right to say that. Through the work we have done with the TV historian David Olusoga and others, we have identified that there is not just a challenge at entry level; young people from diverse backgrounds hit a glass ceiling at a certain level and simply cannot progress. I am very proud of the fact that Wigan is the home of Ian McKellen, one of the greatest actors this country has ever produced, but frankly it is hard to see how a working-class lad from Wigan nowadays could go on to become one of the greatest actors in this country. I say to the creative industries: this is existential. Any country can make series about posh boys playing gangsters in the east end. Very few countries can meet the genius of “Derry Girls”. In order to continue to make those incredible moments and create the best output, we need a far more diverse workforce than we have at the moment.
Mr SpeakerSpeaker
Here is the “Derry Girls” now—I call Jim Shannon.
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)Democratic Unionist Party
The Secretary of State took my words, so I will change my question. Historically, there has been a higher concentration of artists and creative organisations in urban areas. However, talent and creativity are widespread across rural areas in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. What steps will the Secretary of State take to address regional disparities in arts funding and ensure that individuals, regardless of where they are based, have fair and equal access to creative opportunities?
I am fairly sure that is the first time the hon. Gentleman has been called a Derry Girl, but I think it might stick. I agree with him: there are significant challenges in different parts of the country, and some areas of the country have been hugely underfunded. We are correcting that. As he will have heard in the recent exchange with my right hon. Friend the Minister for Creative Industries, Media and Online Safety, that is not without controversy. I maintain that talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not, and this Government have a responsibility to change that.
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.
Anna Sabine (Frome and East Somerset) (LD)Liberal Democrat
The National Centre for Arts Education is trying to improve music education by improving access to continuing professional development for teachers, but CPD cannot reach schools that do not have a music teacher, and these days many schools tragically do not have one. School is a key pathway into the creative industries for children of all backgrounds, so will the Secretary of State work with the Department for Education to restore the music PGCE bursary and support the Liberal Democrat call for 1,000 new music teachers, so that the National Centre for Arts Education can succeed in its mission?
My right hon. Friend the Minister for Creative Industries, Media and Online Safety and I strongly believe that all children in this country deserve the right to live a richer, larger life through access to art, music, sports and culture. Over the last couple of decades, we have shamefully seen those opportunities stripped out of both our classrooms and our communities. I am working with the Education Secretary on reforms to the curriculum that will put art, sport, music, dance and drama back at the heart of the curriculum, where they belong. We are complementing that with a programme of work in our communities, including building music studios in libraries and other initiatives, and I would be delighted to work with the hon. Lady on that agenda.
Source: UK Parliament Hansard API. Debate ID: 5436640.