Assessment on Integrated Review: Stepping into the Age of Influential Diplomacy?
The UK Government's Integrated Review, a comprehensive analysis of the nation's foreign, defence, and domestic policy, has recognised the creative industries as a significant asset in projecting soft power. This strategy positions the creative sector as one of the eight priority sectors in the broader industrial strategy, with targeted policies and investments aimed at unlocking its growth potential and fostering innovation.
The Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre (PEC) has been instrumental in shaping this approach. The PEC, an independent body focused on providing research and policy recommendations for the UK's creative industries, has submitted responses to several consultations related to this strategy. These include the DCMS consultation on 'A change of ownership of Channel 4 Television Corporation', the Competition and Markets Authority's proposed study 'Music and streaming market', and the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee's inquiry "A creative future".
The Integrated Review identifies the creative industries alongside advanced manufacturing, clean energy, digital technologies, and others as sectors to receive vertical (sector-specific) interventions, such as grants, skills investment, and targeted support to overcome market failures and barriers to growth. The strategy emphasises skills development, including specialized technical colleges, apprenticeships, and workforce strategies that address sector-specific talent needs, thereby enabling creative industries to build a competitive workforce crucial for innovation and global cultural impact.
The government positions cultural and creative sectors as platforms of nation-building and international engagement, recognising their profitability and symbolic value as part of broader soft power projection. Through public-private partnerships, the creative sector infrastructure (galleries, museums, events) supports cultural diplomacy and regeneration, which enhances the UK's global image and appeal.
The strategy also works in tandem with immigration policies that aim to improve talent mobility and access for sectors including creative industries, ensuring the sector can attract and retain global talent necessary for maintaining soft power capabilities.
In addition to the Integrated Review, the UK Government has made changes to the immigration system, introducing an elite points-based visa and reforming the Global Talent Visa, aimed at attracting and retaining highly skilled, globally mobile talent.
The PEC has also submitted recommendations to the Integrated Review, aiming to develop the role of the UK's creative industries in the Government's soft power strategy. These recommendations include introducing measures to better work with the UK's vibrant creative industries, such as a creative industries and soft power briefing unit and adding culture and the creative industries to the annual ambassadors conference.
The Government's commitment to the creative industries extends beyond the Integrated Review. The Budget announced changes to the UK's immigration system, and the Government has also committed to invest £150 million in the Creative Industries Sector Deal, increase economy-wide R&D investment, and provide funding for arm's length bodies that support UK cultural and sporting excellence.
In summary, the Integrated Review supports creative industries as soft power assets by combining investment, skills development, sector-specific support, and cultural infrastructure policies to enable the UK to project cultural influence globally while bolstering economic growth in this sector. The UK Government's embrace of the creative industries as a key component of its soft power strategy is expected to have far-reaching implications for the sector and the nation's global standing.
[1] Government's Integrated Review, 2021 [2] Creative Industries Council, 2021 [3] Creative Industries Sector Deal, 2017 [4] Creative Industries Cluster Programme, 2019 [5] Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, 2021
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