Policy paper

Creative industries sector vision Annex B: developing a creative industries sector vision monitoring and evaluation framework

Updated 20 June 2023

This was published under the 2022 to 2024 Sunak Conservative government

In line with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Monitoring and Evaluation Strategy, we are embedding monitoring and evaluation (M&E) into the sector vision. M&E enables better policy decisions by growing the evidence base and building our understanding of ‘what works’. It also ensures transparency and accountability, and enables government and industry to credibly demonstrate success and where improvements can be made.

The sector vision’s goals and objectives set out our level of ambition to 2030. We also set the near term actions and programmes that will contribute to realising the vision. The M&E framework is focused on how these actions or interventions translate into outcomes, that is, the intermediate results or effects that contribute towards the visions objectives and goals. It consists of 2 components:

• evaluations, which are used to determine whether our interventions have (or have not) delivered their intended outcomes and impacts and whether there is a causal link between interventions and outcomes; and
• an outcome monitoring framework that will use a range of metrics to track progress towards realising the outcomes.

These components will be used together to understand the differences government and industry action is having and the wider context of industry performance. The outcome monitoring framework’s metrics won’t capture a full understanding of what is changing but are the closest measures of whether the vision’s goals have been reached. Gaps in evidence and our understanding of the issues affecting industry performance will continue to be filled by new research and analysis.

Each government intervention, from spending programmes through to regulation, will have its own evaluation. This will consist of monitoring systems to gather programme-specific data and a systematic assessment of the intervention’s design, implementation, outcomes, and impact. The aim is to determine whether the intervention’s actions can be attributed to changes in the outcomes observed. This is the most direct means of assessing government action, as broader outcomes can be influenced by a number of factors not connected to the interventions. To build a picture of the cumulative impact of all of our interventions to the vision’s goals and objectives, we will look to combine evaluation findings to understand the total impact of government intervention. This includes whether there are complementary, multiplicative impacts, increasing value beyond the sum of individual parts (or conversely, unexpected duplication).

As intervention-specific evaluations are completed, we will learn both about how to adjust programmes to make them more effective, and which interventions are the most effective overall. Our intention is to continuously refine how the government intervenes in the areas that demonstrate a need and can have the largest impact for the smallest outlay.

The outcome monitoring framework lists a number of broad outcomes that will be monitored but this list is not intended to be exhaustive. Programme evaluations may look at a different but related set of outcomes specific to the interventions. As new evidence becomes available that updates our understanding of the changes that occur, the outcomes will be updated to reflect this. There may also be additional outcomes that are tracked by industry outside of this framework that may be considered when making future policy decisions. For industry, the Creative Industries Council (CIC) working groups will support the development of M&E plans for the actions they are taking forward as part of the sector vision.

The remainder of this annex covers the outcome monitoring framework.

Outcome monitoring framework

The outcome monitoring framework brings together a range of metrics that can be used to monitor progress against each of the sector vision goals and objectives, from the date of publication of this vision (June 2023) to 31 December 2030.^{[footnote 1]} This will complement the monitoring that takes place for each individual programme, capturing administrative data that will aid evaluation. Each goal and objective has been broken down into a set of outcomes that we expect our interventions to achieve, and metrics are matched to these outcomes.^{[footnote 2]} The outcomes have been selected as those that most closely demonstrate whether an objective has been reached.

The framework identifies the best available metrics that will be used to monitor the outcomes as well as some of their drivers to understand what is changing. The metrics used may change over time, as a result of both expanding or improving data available for the creative industries, and due to improvements in statistical products and measurement generally. We have provided a confidence rating for how well metrics capture the outcomes we are interested in:

• A high rating indicates the metric represents the outcome well with a good sample size to provide breakdowns for the creative industries sub-sectors, regional or sub-regional, or demographic breakdowns.
• A medium rating indicates the measure only partly captures the outcome, for example in the case of investment, it only covers public investment. Alternatively the metric is not able to produce regional or demographic breakdowns for the creative industries.
• A low rating indicates the metric is a poor proxy measure for the outcome or does not have data available against the creative industries definition. A low rating is also given to metrics that partly capture the outcome, and are also not able to produce regional or demographic breakdowns for the creative industries. Even where metrics are poor they still provide the best means available to track changes.

There are other reasons for why a metric may not perfectly capture an outcome and, in practice, the match between a real-world metric and a theoretical outcome is always imperfect. But some metrics are better than others and, where we think available metrics are poor proxies, we want to improve on them.

Moreover, whilst we look to measure outcomes across the UK in most cases, some policies are devolved. Data and evidence may therefore not be collected in a manner consistent with the way the UK Government collects data and evidence, leading to challenges with measurements. Where the data for a metric is collected by both UK and Devolved governments or is limited in geography, this is explained in the confidence ratings notes. Otherwise metrics are for the UK. Where metrics present monetary values, comparisons over time are made using real term values, that is those that account for inflation. Metric frequency varies with some available monthly or quarterly and others annually.

As this is a forward-looking vision, some outcomes do not yet have a metric against them. We will attempt to fill these evidence gaps as more information and data become available. In collaboration with the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC), government departments, and industry bodies, we are committed to collecting better data to narrow the gap between the outcomes we care about and the available metrics we use to track them. For each objective an indication of the possible next steps in developing metrics is provided.

Overarching metrics

There are several measures of the economic performance of the creative industries that sit across the vision’s goals.

DCMS will continue to publish regular statistics on the creative industries and its sub-sectors’ performance including: gross value added; workforce levels; productivity; business demographics; trade; and creative economy employment. Where possible, these will provide regional breakdowns too, supporting monitoring of the government’s levelling up objectives. Where relevant, statistics are also provided with a breakdown by population demographics. Workforce statistics are also split by employed and self-employed and by working pattern. Challenges measuring the freelance workforce are discussed under goal 2.

Measuring productivity is still challenging with data limitations meaning the preferred metric of output per hour worked is not available. DCMS will explore options for expanding the experimental productivity statistics to a regular release.

Outcome	Metric	Source	Confidence rating
Increase in economic activity across the creative industries.	UK Gross Value Added of the creative industries in real terms.	DCMS Economic Estimates	High - sub-sector and regional breakdown.
Increase in workforce across creative industries.	UK filled jobs in creative industries.	DCMS Economic Estimates	High - sub-sector and regional breakdown.
Increase in creative occupations workforce in the wider economy.	UK filled jobs of creative occupations outside the creative industries.	DCMS Economic Estimates	High - coverage of creative occupations both within and outside the creative industries.
Increase productivity of the creative industries workforce.	Productivity, output per filled job.	DCMS Economic Estimates: Experimental Productivity Estimates	Medium - data for the creative industries and sub-sectors but not the best measure of productivity (output per filled job rather than output per hour worked).
Sub-regional creative industries activity, reducing regional disparity.	Creative clusters in England - growth in number of businesses, turnover, and employment.	Office For National Statistics (ONS) - Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR)	Medium - Captures most business activity but may miss the smallest businesses and freelancers. Travel to Work Area is the geographic measure used.

Goal 1: grow creative clusters across the UK, adding £50 billion more in gross value added (GVA).

2030 Innovation objective: Increased public and private investment in creative industries’ innovation, contributing to the UK increasing its R&D expenditure to drive R&D-led innovation.

Innovation is difficult to measure as there are a multitude of different approaches to developing new creative products or services. The surveys and metrics identified have low confidence due to their limited coverage and small sample sizes for the creative industries, but where data is available these allow monitoring of changes over time. DCMS will work with His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), ONS and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT), to investigate where data on creative industries innovation and R&D can be improved, starting with the existing surveys and administrative data. This includes improving our understanding of both the level of innovation and R&D activity as well as where, when and how these activities happen. Progress has been made with the Business Enterprise Research and Development survey (BERD) which has been analysed by the ONS against the creative industries definition and we will work to establish time series data. In 2022, DCMS and the PEC commissioned research to better measure the spillovers of the creative industries to other sectors, published alongside the sector vision in June 2023. The Council of Science and Technology’s work to explore R&D and technology in the creative industries in 2023 is a further opportunity to build the evidence base.

DCMS will also work with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) to assess whether the strength of the UK Intellectual Property regime can be measured and compared to global competitors, to ensure the UK environment continues to foster innovation.

Innovation outcomes

• Increase the percentage of creative businesses that are innovation active. This includes any of the following: the introduction of a new or significantly improved product (good or service) or process; engagement in innovation projects not yet complete, scaled back, or abandoned; new and significantly improved forms of organisation, business structures or practices, and marketing concepts or strategies.
• Increase in value of creative industries public and private R&D expenditure.

Outcome	Metric	Source	Confidence rating
Increase the proportion of creative businesses that are innovation active.	UK Creative Industries that are innovation active.	Department for Business and Trade (DBT)/Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), UK Innovation Survey	Low - survey doesn’t cover all the creative industries sub-sectors, small sample sizes for those it does cover, and it does not cover firms with less than 10 employees.
Increase in value of creative industries public and private R&D expenditure.	Level of private R&D spending.	ONS, BERD Survey	Low - The metric is likely to miss activity in smaller creative businesses and sampling is based on those known to undertake R&D activity, though ONS is updating its methodology. Not all of the creative industries sub-sectors are covered. Does not include measures for success of R&D activities, meaning actual level of innovation benefitting consumers/wider society is unknown.
Increase in value of creative industries public and private R&D expenditure.	UKRI R&D spending.	To be developed with UKRI.	Medium - an administrative measure of R&D funding into the creative industries, though does not cover all public R&D spending.

2030 Investment objective: Creative businesses reach their growth potential, powered by a step-change in regional investment.

Official statistics on private investment are not available against the creative industries definition. We will work with the PEC to identify opportunities for analysis and primary research, for example building on the Creative Radar firm survey. Evaluation findings from the Create Growth Programme will also contribute to our understanding on how successful firms are in accessing finance. We are also working with the British Business Bank (BBB) to publish data on creative industries investments supported by their programmes. We will look for opportunities to obtain a more granular understanding of investment data, where possible on different forms of investment - such as equity, debt and venture capital - and on firms at different stages of growth.

Outcomes

• Increase in the proportion of creative firms that require finance, of all sizes, that are able to access different forms of investments across the UK, in order to decrease the gap between demand and supply of finance for creative firms;
• Increase in value of different forms of investments in creative firms, of all sizes, across the UK.

Outcome	Metric	Source	Confidence rating
Increase in the proportion of creative firms that require finance, of all sizes, that are able to access different forms of investments across the UK and an increase in the value of investments.	Value of finance accessed by creative businesses though government backed funds.	British Business Bank	Medium - direct measure of public backed private investment but only partly covers the outcome.
Increase in the proportion of creative firms that require finance, of all sizes, that are able to access different forms of investments across the UK.	Number of businesses accessing external finance (including for the first time). Need of small businesses for finance and reasons for not applying for this finance.	DBT, Small business survey	Low - data is not sufficiently granular to cover the creative industries definition.
Increase in the proportion of creative firms that require finance, of all sizes, that are able to access different forms of investments across the UK.	Creative business needs for investment, and whether they have the resources to address this need.	Creative Industries Policy and evidence Centre (PEC), Creative Radar (2021)	Medium - details firms that need more finance for R&D and those that do not have the resources for investment. The small sample size means regional analysis is not possible. Creative PEC is considering introducing a new longitudinal business survey which will include questions on access to investment.
Increase in value of different forms of investments in creative firms, of all sizes, across the UK.	Value of foreign direct investment (FDI) flows into the creative industries.	ONS, FDI involving UK companies (inward)	Low - does not cover all of the creative industries and industry has wide groupings. Disaggregation is needed to give a proxy for FDI into the creative industries.

2030 Export objective: Creative businesses grow their exports and contribute to the UK reaching £1 trillion exports per year.

Data on trade in goods and services has been mapped to the creative industries definition and published by DCMS. Further work is required to build on the experimental estimates published by ONS on the number of businesses exporting, where DCMS will work with the ONS to determine the feasibility of analysis for the creative industries.^{[footnote 3]}

Outcomes

• Increase in the percentage of creative businesses exporting across the UK;
• Increase in the value of creative exports.

Outcome	Metric	Source	Confidence rating
Increase in the percentage of creative businesses exporting across the UK.	Number of UK creative businesses exporting.	ONS Annual Business Survey	Medium - industry breakdown only available as experimental statistics and not at the level required for the creative industries definition.
Increase in the value of creative exports.	Value of UK creative industries exports in goods and services.	DCMS Economic Estimates	High - goods and services trade classification mapped to creative industries definition. May be possible to provide sectoral and regional breakdowns. Services trade misses firms with less than 10 employees.

Goal 2: build a highly-skilled, productive and inclusive workforce for the future, supporting 1 million more jobs across the UK.

2030 Education objective: A foundation of education and opportunities to foster creative talent from a young age.

The provision and take up of qualifications from a young age is well measured through the available indicators. However, to better capture the overall objective, further work is needed to identify which courses and qualifications support careers in the creative industries, both in creative and non-creative occupations. Data is also needed on how the take up of courses and qualifications differs by sociodemographic background, and, ultimately, how different education routes lead to different employment outcomes. DCMS will work with the Department for Education (DfE) and its Unit for Future Skills (UFS) to explore a number of avenues to shed light on these issues, including mapping data on participation in courses and qualifications and education outcomes to the creative industries and creative occupation definitions.

DfE and DCMS are also working on the Cultural Education Plan, due for publication in 2023, which will look in greater detail at the provision and impact of extra and co-curricular creative engagement on wellbeing, attainment and progression in children and young people in England. An M&E framework of the Cultural Education Plan, and its sister strategy, the National Plan for Music Education which was published in 2022, will be developed in due course.

Data on participation in post-16 technical education and training programmes is available through DfE, but further work is required to map these directly to the creative industries. We are working closely with colleagues at the DfE on indicators that would allow us to get a more comprehensive picture of the take up of creative skills pathways, such as data on the take up of creative Skills Bootcamps, creative T levels and creative Vocational Technical Qualifications (VTQs).

To get a UK-wide picture we will also look, where possible, to supplement our collection with data from the Scottish Qualifications Authority, StatsWales, Scottish Funding Council, the Department for Economy NI and the Department for Communities (NI). We will also explore the possibility to supplement data for England learners with Individualised Learner Records collected by training providers.

Outcomes

• The provision and take up of creative courses and qualifications supports skills development from a young age, meeting creative industry and creative economy needs;
• Driving improved outcomes for students after study to successful progression into employment, further study or portfolio development.

Outcome	Metric	Source	Confidence rating
The provision and take up of creative courses and qualifications supports skills development from a young age, meeting creative industry and creative economy needs.	GCSE and A-Level entries in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in creative subjects.	Joint Council for Qualifications	Medium - covers GCSEs and A level subjects only. Scotland is not covered.
The provision and take up of creative courses and qualifications supports skills development from a young age, meeting creative industry and creative economy needs.	Percentage of Key Stage 4 pupils entered for GCSEs and Vocational Technical Awards KS4 (VTQ) entries in creative subjects.	Department for Education (DfE), KS4 subjects pupil level data	Medium - Data covers qualifications taken at Key Stage 4 only and is available for England only.
The provision and take up of creative courses and qualifications supports skills development from a young age, meeting creative industry and creative economy needs.	Enrolment on higher education (HE) courses in creative subjects.	Higher Education Statistics Authority	High - measure relates directly to outcome. This does not include further education, however we can fill this gap with data on further education enrollments and apprenticeships, which we use to measure the skills objective.
The provision and take up of creative courses and qualifications supports skills development from a young age, meeting creative industry and creative economy needs.	VTQs awarded (will include T Level qualifications in England from 2025).	DfE Further education and skills dataset, supplemented by data from Vocational qualification dataset	Medium - Data covers England only.
The provision and take up of creative courses and qualifications supports skills development from a young age, meeting creative industry and creative economy needs.	Level 4 and 5 qualification entries (classroom-based learning).	DfE Higher Level Learners dataset, Level 4 and 5 in relevant technical routes	Medium - Data covers England only.
Driving improved outcomes for students after study to successful progression into employment, further study or portfolio development.	Higher Education graduate outcomes.	DfE, Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset	Medium - The survey provides measures of employment up to 5 years after graduating. DfE will publish 5-digit SIC code data from 2023 allowing mapping against creative industries definitions. Data does not capture portfolio development.
Driving improved outcomes for students after study to successful progression into employment, further study or portfolio development.	Further Education outcomes.	DfE, Further education: outcome-based success measures	Low - The data provides measures of employment destinations including by broad industry sector for the academic year after completion. Disaggregated data are not published to allow mapping against creative industries definitions. Data does not capture portfolio development and covers England only.

2030 Skills objective: Stronger skills and career pathways generate a workforce that meets the industry’s skills needs.

There are overlaps between education and skills objectives given the many routes into creative industries careers. The distinction used for the purposes of monitoring the skills objective is based on employer-led education and training such as apprenticeships.

DCMS is engaging with DfE’s UFS, which aims to support a better understanding of current skill mismatches and future demand throughout the country, to improve the evidence on the creative sector skills needs, both in the present and in the future. The CIC will also coordinate assessments of current and future skills needs for each creative sub-sector to undertake. To get a UK-wide picture we will also look, where possible, to supplement our collection with data from Skills Development Scotland, the Scottish Employer Skills Survey, StatsWales, the Department for Economy NI and the Department for Communities. We will also explore the possibility to supplement data on apprenticeships with Individualised Learner Records collected in England by training providers.

Strengthening the full range of education and skills pathways is required in order to fully meet industry skills needs, at all levels, and reduce the level of skills gaps and shortages in the sector.

Outcomes

• Expand opportunities for participation in specialist and technical education and training;
• Decreased reporting of skills gaps and shortages across creative industries sub-sectors.

Outcome	Metric	Source	Confidence rating
Expanded opportunities for participation in specialist and technical education and training.	Apprenticeship starts in creative sub-sectors by learner characteristics and region.	DfE publish data on apprenticeship starts by broad industry sector but disaggregated data are not published to allow mapping against creative industries definitions	Medium - data covers England only and is currently unpublished.
Expand opportunities for participation in specialist and technical education and training.	Proportion of workers in creative industries that have received job-related training.	Labour Force Survey and Employer Skills survey dataset	Medium - Data does not include Scotland.
Decreased reporting of skills gaps and shortages across creative industries sub-sectors.	Skills gap incidence is the proportion of establishments reporting at least 1 employee does not have the skills to be fully proficient. Skills gap density is the number of employees that an employer reported as not having the skills to be fully proficient as a proportion of all employees. Skills gaps incidence and density in DCMS sectors and sub-sectors.[footnote 4]	DCMS Estimates based on Employer Skills Survey	Medium - data also available by region, but no granular detail on specific skills gaps in creative industries sub-sectors. Data does not include Scotland.
Decreased reporting of skills gaps and shortages across creative industries sub-sectors.	Skills shortage vacancy (SSV) incidence and density in DCMS sectors and sub-sectors.	DCMS Estimates based on Employer Skills Survey	Medium - data also available by region, but no granular detail on reasons behind SSV in creative industries sub-sectors. Data does not include Scotland.

2030 Job quality objective: All parts of the creative industries are recognised for offering high quality jobs, ensuring a resilient and productive workforce that reflects the whole of the UK.

Job quality can be covered by many metrics, so we focus on those covering the key outcomes set out below. The Good Work Review, while identifying numerous measures of job quality, found data was lacking on several measures of job quality including the extent to which workers: feel they do meaningful work; use their skills in the workplace; feel well-supported by their direct managers; or have experienced discrimination, bullying or harassment in the workplace. The Labour Force Survey has added questions on job quality to address these gaps and will be available in 2023.

As self-employment represents a large share of the creative workforce, further investigation is needed to improve our understanding and the available evidence on freelancers’ wages and working practices. DCMS will convene a group to explore primary data collection options for the creative industries.

Outcomes

• Increased attraction and retention;
• Increased pay fairness;
• Increased job security;
• Employment in the creative industries moves towards being representative of the UK population.

Outcome	Metric	Source	Confidence rating
Increased attraction and retention.	Movement of workers to/from other sectors (as a percentage of current workforce).	DCMS Sectors: Employment, Joiners and Leavers, based on Labour Force Survey	Medium - does not distinguish between employees and freelancers and sample size too small to carry out the analysis at sub-sectoral level.
Increased pay fairness.	Decrease unpaid overtime in the creative industries.	Labour Force Survey	Medium - only partly captures the whole scale of pay disparities.
Increased pay fairness.	Increase level of satisfaction with salary in the creative industries.	Labour Force Survey	Medium - only partly captures the whole scale of pay disparities.
Increased job security.	Percentage of part-time workforce reporting they would like to work full-time (i.e. involuntary part-time) and percentage of workers that feel their job is secure.	Labour Force Survey	Medium - only partly captures the objective.
Employment in the creative industries moves towards being representative of the UK population.	Percentage of workforce by sociodemographic characteristic (sex, age, disability, ethnicity, socio-economic background).	DCMS Economic estimates: Workforce DCMS Economic Estimates based on Labour Force Survey July-September data	High - measures outcome directly across the demographics covered.

Goal 3: maximise the positive impact of the creative industries on individuals and communities, the environment and the UK’s global standing.

2030 Wellbeing objective: Creative activities contribute to improved wellbeing, help to strengthen local communities, and promote pride in place

The DCMS Participation survey provides a wealth of information on engagement in creative activities both inside and outside the home, such as going to the cinema or playing video games. While engagement itself is not an indicator of changes in wellbeing, evidence shows a clear link between the two.^{[footnote 5]} The level of engagement is used as a proxy and further analysis of the survey data will help understand the relationship and patterns across the UK. Further developments in the survey will also provide insights on pride in place and the use of social prescribing. DCMS will continue to monitor new evidence on the impacts of social prescribing and work with the Department for Health and Social Care to determine whether administrative data is available to track prescribing and uptake. For pride in place, when the Participation survey results are available, analysis will investigate any links with engagement in creative activities.

For the devolved nations we will use the relevant statistics produced by the devolved administrations to measure participation in creative and cultural activities.

Outcomes

• Increased engagement in creative industry in person events, shows, exhibitions;
• Increased engagement in digital and online creative activities;
• Increased pride in place across the UK linked to engagement in creative industries activities.

Outcome	Metric	Source	Confidence rating
Increased engagement in creative industries in person events/shows.	Adults in England engagement in cultural events/shows.	DCMS Participation Survey	High - The survey provides information on engagement in a range of physical activities though only for adults.
Increased engagement in digital and online creative activities.	Adults in England engagement in creative and cultural activities online.	DCMS Participation Survey	High - The survey provides information on engagement in a range of digital and online activities though only for adults.
Increased engagement in creative industries in person events/shows.	Adults in Scotland participation in cultural activities.	Scottish Household Survey	High - The survey provides insight into participation in multiple different cultural activities, though not as granular as the Participation Survey.
Increased engagement in creative industries in person events/shows.	Engagement in culture, arts, heritage and sport by adults in Northern Ireland	Department for Communities Continuous Household Survey	High - The survey provides insight into participation in multiple different cultural activities, though not as granular as the Participation Survey.
Increased engagement in creative industries in person events/shows.	Percentage of people in Wales who attend or participate in arts culture or heritage activities 3 or more times a year.	National Survey for Wales	Medium - The survey does provide insight into the participation of adults in arts, culture or heritage activities, but does not breakdown the different activities or the demographics of the adults.

2030 Environment objective: Creative industries play a growing role in tackling environmental challenges, helping the UK reach the targets set out in the Powering Up Britain plan.

The creative industries’ impact on the environment is complex with many different aspects to consider such as, greenhouse gas emissions, materials use and resource depletion, waste, to name a few. Given this complexity, official greenhouse gas emissions and waste data are a starting point, but are currently only collected at the highest level, and without more granular breakdowns, we are unable to gain detailed insight for all creative industries sub-sectors. Waste data also has many sub-categories and more work is needed to understand which are relevant and can be mapped to the creative industries definition. While not fully mapped to the creative industries definition, emissions data is available to support monitoring progress. To obtain more detailed data, DCMS is working with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Royal College of Arts to understand the use and comparability of carbon footprint measurement tools.

Outcome

• Reduced greenhouse gas emissions from creative industries activities.

Outcome	Metric	Source	Confidence rating
Reduced greenhouse gas emissions from creative industries activities.	UK territorial greenhouse gas emissions.	Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) UK greenhouse gas emissions	Medium - statistics don’t provide granular sector breakdowns but provide an indication of creative industries emissions pathway over time.

2030 Soft power objective: Creative industries increase their reach to global audiences, strengthening the UK’s soft power and positive influence on the world.

Measuring the UK creative industries’ impact on the world is a significant challenge given both the breadth of products and services the industry provides and their reach. The film sector, with its scale of productions and commercial drive, has established extensive data collection on cinema takings across the world providing a good measure of reach. However, other creative sub-sectors don’t have the systems, given the large number of small businesses, and instead exports of goods and services are used as a proxy for reach.

There are a range of impacts UK creative industries can have both on local communities across the world and their perceptions of the UK. These are complex relationships and we can only scratch the surface with our understanding of how attractive the UK is a place to visit due to its cultural offering. To expand on the measures below, DCMS will work with other government departments and the British Council (BC) to determine which data and methods can be used to understand the creative industries’ impact across the world.

Outcomes

• Increase the global reach of creative industries content, goods and services;
• Increased positive international perceptions of UK’s creative industries goods and services.

Outcome	Metric	Source	Confidence rating
Increase the global reach of creative industries content, goods and services.	Value of UK creative industries exports in goods and services.	DCMS Economic Estimates	Medium - goods and services trade classification mapped to creative industries definition and provided by country. Services trade misses firms with less than 10 employees. This is a reasonable proxy of reach.
Increased positive international perceptions of UK’s creative industries goods and services.	Percentage of individuals indicating the UK as an attractive place to visit, do business with, or as a source of art and culture. Percentage of individuals that have engaged with the UK as a place to visit, do business with, or experience UK art and culture.	British Council, Global Perceptions Survey	Low - indicates the attraction of the UK as a place to visit rather than perceptions about creative industries content more generally. Limited age range of sample (18-34 year olds) but provides a time series for comparisons.

1. The most recent data prior to publication will be used as a comparison point but longer term past trends will also be reviewed where these are available. ↩

2. We have categorised the outcomes under the objectives they most closely link to but are mindful that both interventions and outcomes will often impact on more than 1 objective. ↩

3. £1 trillion exports as set out in the government’s Export Strategy. DBT, Export Strategy (2021) ↩

4. Skills gap incidence is the proportion of establishments reporting at least 1 employee does not have the skills to be fully proficient. Skills gap density is the number of employees that an employer reported as not having the skills to be fully proficient as a proportion of all employees. ↩

5. What works centre for wellbeing, Wherever you live, participating in arts and culture is good for your wellbeing (2022) ↩