Creative industries 'fuel Britain's economic growth'

Britain's economic growth owes just as much to the country's creative industries as it does to more traditional areas such as the financial sector, it was claimed yesterday.

A report by the Work Foundation, which looked at 13 sectors within the entertainment and design industries, found that cultural exports from Britain, such as music and television programmes, are greater than from any other country. According to the findings, Britain's creative sector employs 1.8 million people and makes up 7.3 per cent of the national economy.

Will Hutton, the chief executive of the Work Foundation, said: "These sectors are all very different, but what they have in common and what sets them apart is that they commercialise expressive value.

"They profit from creativity, cultural meaning and symbolism. We need better understanding about the mechanisms through which creativity generates value, both within the creative industries themselves and in the wider economy beyond."

The report's findings were welcomed by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, which commissioned the independent report.

"The UK creative industries outperform every other European state and in the 21st century they have moved to the centre stage of the UK economy," the Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell, said. "The size of the creative industries is comparable to the financial services."

Figures within the entertainment industry agreed that Britain's creativity was booming. Mark Herbert, who produced the British film This Is England, said small film companies in particular have been able to blossom in recent years.

"There's a wealth of new talent out there which, thanks to schemes that were set up five or six years ago, are really starting to bear fruit," he said. "It's a great time to be a British film-maker. There are a lot of things happening."

Made for just £2.2m, This Is England is a typical example of how a small UK production has taken on the larger international studios.

A number of prominent British musicians are also starting to find audiences across the Atlantic, with 2006 and 2007 being particularly successful years for British talent. James Blunt, KT Tunstall, Snow Patrol and Corinne Bailey Rae all broke into the US top 20 last year and Amy Winehouse recently celebrated the highest debut of a British female artist in the US charts when her album Back to Black, entered the charts at No 7.

The report found that international clients were relying on British creative talent within the country's advertising, design and architecture firms like never before, spending up to £2bn a year with UK agencies. Last year, Britain beat the US to the number one slot in the world for advertising excellence for the first time.

In television programme-making, the report also highlighted how regional productions outside of London have helped to boost the local economy.

It found that the success of series such as the BBC's Doctor Who and its sister production Torchwood, which is filmed in and around Cardiff, had helped increase the number of tourists coming to the Welsh capital by more than 20 per cent last year.

Five creative success stories

* VIDEO GAMES

Edinburgh-based Rockstar Games has produced the world's best-selling video game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Now owned by a US company, the software developers still have offices in Leeds and Edinburgh.

* MUSIC

James Blunt sold more than two million singles of "You're Beautiful" in the US and became the first British artist to have a No 1 there since Elton John in 1997.

* FASHION

Thomas Burberry has become one of Britain's most successful fashion labels. Its distinctive tartan design helped bring in profits of £157m last year.

* ARCHITECTURE

Aedas Architects has been commissioned to create the memorial museum at Ground Zero and is the fourth-largest practice in the world.

* TELEVISION

The BBC's Planet Earth may have cost £8m to make but the corporation has sold it to 49 broadcasters.