Select committee: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Conclusion 21
Second Report - Promoting Britain abroad
Published 24 Oct 2022
Paragraph 89
Addressed to Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee Promoting Britain abroad All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
We are deeply concerned about how long VisitBritain must wait for confirmation of its Comprehensive Spending Review funding and, particularly, its marketing spend approval. This year’s delays in the Professional Assurance approval process meant VisitBritain was unable to undertake critical work in international markets and so damaged the recovery of the inbound tourism sector as a whole. We welcome the fact that the Cabinet Office responded more quickly during lockdown, but this highlights not only the necessity of acting swiftly but also the Cabinet Office’s ability to do so. All marketing campaigns generate significant costs and so VisitBritain hits the threshold of £100,000 on most, if not all, of its work. Given that the Government established VisitBritain to promote Britain abroad, it is nonsensical that approval processes are directly limiting its ability to do so. We recognise that £100,000 may be a useful threshold for non-marketing organisations but the nature of VisitBritain’s work means that it should have a much higher threshold for its campaign spend.
From: Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Second Report - Promoting Britain abroad (HC 156), paragraph 89, 24 October 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 2 February 2023 (deadline 11 January 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government accepts the importance of tourism and the Committee's concerns in places, but does not accept several of the main recommendations, including a creative industries export office, a group ID card for under 18s, a recovery visa and a larger VisitBritain marketing budget.
- On a creative industries export office, the government "does not see a case" for one, citing existing export support. It will set out its ambition for the creative sector to 2030 in the Creative Industries Sector Vision, to be published "in early 2023".
- On VisitBritain's Business Events Growth Programme, the government "does not presently intend to expand" it, but "will continue to evaluate the case for expanding this as part of future DCMS budgetary planning". It does not intend to increase VisitBritain's marketing budget "at present".
- On entry rules, there are "no plans to change" the approach to under 18s in organised groups, though the government "will review mitigations through the Inter-Ministerial Group". It does not intend to publish a visa review outcome within 12 months, and does not intend to introduce a "recovery visa".
- On the de Bois recommendations, a Destination Development Partnership pilot in the North East will receive "£2.25 million across three years". If it is "successful", this will inform future spending review bids, with the "aim" to then roll out the model across England.