Source · Select Committees · Culture, Media and Sport Committee
Recommendation 34
34
Accepted in Part
Ensure Growth and Skills Levy compatibility with film and HETV by addressing specific barriers.
Conclusion
The Growth and Skills Levy must be fully compatible with work in the film and HETV sectors by: (Recommendation, Paragraph 120) • Ensuring portability of apprenticeships between employers; • Supporting smaller companies with the overhead costs of delivering apprenticeships; • Incentivising high-quality training providers and higher education institutions to provide apprenticeships, by reducing the bureaucratic obligations on them and by subsidising costs when cohorts are small; and • Funding high-quality continuous professional development.
Government Response Summary
The government commits to refining the Growth and Skills offer for creative industries, including shorter apprenticeships from August 2025 and new short courses from April 2026, and will consider smaller employers' needs. It is exploring the portability of apprenticeships but has not yet fully committed.
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
Working with industry and Skills England, the government will refine and develop the Growth and Skills offer to deliver apprenticeships and skills training that recognises the particular needs of the creative industries. This will build on flexi-job apprenticeship agencies and the new flexibilities that will be available, such as shorter duration apprenticeships, introduced from August 2025. We expect some of the first shorter apprenticeships to be available to apprentices training as Screen and Audio Production Assistants. We will ensure that we continue to consider the needs of smaller employers when developing our Growth and Skills offer. We will go further by introducing short courses in England, funded through the Growth and Skills Levy, in areas such as digital, artificial intelligence and engineering. These will support Industrial Strategy sectors such as in creative industries and advanced manufacturing from April 2026. We will work with Skills England to determine the courses which will be prioritised in the first wave of rollout and subsequent waves, and how those sit alongside apprenticeships and other training routes. We will work with Skills England to introduce these short courses and consider how to prioritise investment across the programme. We note the Committee’s recommendation on ensuring portability of apprenticeships between employers. Portable apprenticeships help temporary/fixed-term employment roles, by allowing apprentices to break up the continuous minimum 12-month employment/training period across multiple productions, in keeping with the realities of work. We are in the process of exploring this with the sector.