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Government to strengthen its engagement with the industry.

The Scottish Government and its agencies will forge better, more direct links with the Scottish film industry, Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said recently.

Film industry leaders will be invited to form an expert group to support the government and its creative and enterprise agencies to better understand and respond to the needs of the sector.

Setting up the group is one of several actions the Scottish Government will take following a recent inquiry by the Scottish Parliament’s Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee into the economic impact of the creative industries in Scotland.

Reviews of Scotland’s animation and video games sectors will also be undertaken, the latter as part of the development of a strategic approach for the wider digital media industry.

Creative Scotland and Scottish Enterprise will work together to ensure their roles and remits are more clearly understood by the sector. Working with other partner agencies through SCIP, by August 2015 Creative Scotland and Scottish Enterprise will produce a Memorandum of Understanding to clarify respective roles and support effective joint working".

Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs, said recently:

"This inquiry provided a valuable opportunity to look in depth at our creative industries – a sector worth more than £5 billion to Scotland, which employs more people than the oil and gas industry and has a higher GVA than the life sciences sector. We are determined to maximise the economic, social and cultural benefits our creative industries can deliver.

"For example, we have boosted public sector investment in the screen sector from £16.2 million in 2007/08 to more than £21 million in 2013-14. We built on this with our new £2m Tax Credit Loan Fund and £1m Screen Sector Skills Fund and through our continuing work to secure enhanced studio infrastructure for Scotland.

"The measures we are announcing today will help us to better understand and respond to the needs of the creative industries in Scotland and ensure the government and its agencies are working more effectively and collaboratively for their benefit.

Notes To Editors

The Deputy First Minister John Swinney and Ms Hyslop formally responded to the committee’s inquiry report recently. A copy of the response can be downloaded from the Scottish Parliament website using this link: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_EconomyEnergyandTourismCommittee/Inquiries/SG_Letter_and_response_in_one_doc..pdf

Chaired by Creative Scotland, the new Film Industry Leadership Group will support the implementation of the agency’s current three-year film strategy, which runs to 2017.

Since 2007/08, a total of over £129 million has been directed by the public sector in Scotland towards support for the screen industries.

Total figures for screen support from 2007-08 to 2013-14 were:

2007-08: £16.2 million
2008-09: £17.1 million
2009-10: £16.1 million
2010-11: £19.7 million
2011-12: £17.5 million
2012-13: £21 million
2013-14: £21.6 million