Minister seeks debate to make Britain a world 'creative hub'

Creative Industries Minister James Purnell has challenged industry to come up with ideas for building on the considerable success of the UK's creative industries.
He has launched a debate on how Britain can become the world's creative hub, the related industries already account for 8% of the UK economy and he wants to put the industry back at the top of the economic agenda.
Mr Purnell said government and industry need to work together to ensure "we can turn talent into hits and hits into profits."
To kick-start the debate he has announced:

• A study into the case for setting up a music council - if given the green light, the council might act as an advocate for the music industry and work with the government on key issues such as piracy and regulation;
• A stocktake of film policy - to focus on inward investment, cultural film, distribution and British film production - to be carried out by the UK Film Council;
• An intellectual property project - to deliver the Government's commitment to modernise copyright and IP protection. The project will be a collaboration with the DTI and the UK Patent Office;
• A review of creativity in schools - to examine how schools can further support creativity. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Education and Skills have approached Paul Roberts, one of our most successful chief education officers, to carry out the review.

Speaking at an Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) event in London, Mr Purnell said: "I want to set an ambitious but achievable goal today - to make Britain the world's creative hub.
"To meet that goal, there are two questions we need to answer: what makes Britain creative, and how can we turn that creativity into industrial success?
"In other words, how can we turn talent into hits and hits into profits?
"Over the next few months, I hope industry will help us answer these questions."
The Minister also announced that he is launching a creative industries on-line discussion forum on the DCMS website at www.culture.gov.uk/creative_industries/discussionforum.htm.
This will enable the creative industries to put their views on key issues directly to the Minister.
He also stressed that, in preparing a White Paper on the future of the BBC, expected to be published later this year, the Government needs to think about how it can ensure that the new framework it sets supports the creativity of the BBC.
(SP)