Policy brief

November 2012

Download the November Policy brief

This month we highlight recent research and the work of Government Select Committees as it impacts on craft. The brief addresses the following topics:

1. Parliament and recent Select Committee inquiries
2. Research reports
3. Government reports and announcements
4. Arts education and cultural engagement
5. Consultation responses; and
6. Other announcements.

1. Parliament and recent select committee inquiries

Culture, Media and Sport Committee inquiry into support for the creative economy
We reported in last month’s policy brief on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s launch of a new inquiry into support for the creative economy. The Committee’s focus on barriers to growth in the creative industries and on ways to establish a strong skills base to support the creative economy are likely to be of particular interest to the craft sector.

The Crafts Council submitted written evidence to the Committee, a copy of which can be found on the Committee’s website together with written evidence submitted by sixty-nine other organizations including Arts Council England, the Associate Parliamentary Design and Innovation Group, British Fashion Council, Creative and Cultural Skills, Design Council, Tate and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Written and oral evidence will also be referenced in the Committee’s final report following the completion of the evidence sessions next year. Our submission made a number of points, including the following:

• craft makers make a far greater contribution to other creative industry sectors than is widely realised, from supplying bespoke fabrics and accessories for the couture and film & television industries, to designing more realistic virtual materials for use in online gaming environments. In the wider economy, by partnering with industry they help to unlock innovation in biotechnology, healthcare, manufacturing and tourism amongst other sectors;

• as a sector comprised mainly of sole traders, craft faces specific challenges. For example, there is little capacity at the individual business level for R&D, for investment in new technologies, or for developing the industry partnerships that are so crucial to innovation. Similarly, finance can be difficult to obtain;

• the craft sector is also remarkably diverse – ranging from small-scale manufacturers to individual makers – for its relatively small overall size (23,000 businesses in 2010, compared to 232,000 businesses that define themselves as “design”;

• the London 2012 medals created by craft makers Lin Cheung and David Watkins were key to the visual identity of the Games, but contemporary craft also played several other important roles at London 2012, including being highly visible at the British Business Embassy which included a showcase of 21 pieces of exceptional contemporary craft;

• online selling has created a global export market that, according to research, may offer stronger growth opportunity for makers than UK domestic sales;

• any tax reliefs designed to stimulate growth in the creative industries [should] be made available to the entire sector. The current focus on tax relief for media companies disregards the established creative economy model in which the creative output of some sectors drives innovation and growth in others;

• our research shows that the majority of graduates from undergraduate craft degree courses value their education in terms that relate to both their creative development and their capacity to run a business. The study of craft at degree level is at risk within the current changes in Higher Education.

The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee report of the inquiry into apprenticeships
In our January briefing we reported that the Craft Council would be submitting evidence to this inquiry. The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee has now published its final report and accompanying evidence. The Crafts Council’s evidence can be accessed here and the Committee’s reports here.

The Crafts Council emphasised the points that:
• Where apprenticeships, similar or equivalent opportunities are offered, demand demonstrably exists. However small/micro-businesses in the craft sector require flexible apprenticeship models; access to funding; support in identifying the kinds of skills they need to assist them in their practices, and guidance on apprenticeship delivery.
• Many makers come to professional craft practice as a second career and so funding arrangements for apprenticeships which are linked to age could be prohibitive for some people wishing to join the professional sector.

Noting that BIS lacked evidence about a possible bias in firms towards employing younger apprenticeships and unfairly disadvantaging older applicants, the report recommends that BIS provides a detailed assessment of the impact that the funding structure has had on the take up of apprenticeships by age group (paragraph 52.)

The Committee’s report and its recommendations address

• Government policy
• Delivery and funding
• Engaging apprentices and employers business
• Quality; and
• Value for money.


2. Research reports

Craft Skills Awards and Mapping Heritage Crafts
The first annual national Craft Skills Awards were launched on 22 November. Winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony in late spring 2013. The Awards are supported by His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales, who is President of the Heritage Crafts Association.

The Craft Skills Awards have been developed by Creative & Cultural Skills, in partnership with the Crafts Council, the Heritage Crafts Association, the Prince’s Foundation for Building Community and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, to promote excellence in the teaching, learning, development and promotion of craft skills in the UK.

The launch coincided with the publication of ‘Mapping Heritage Crafts’, a study to define, categorise and examine the size and shape of England’s Heritage Crafts sector.

Compiled by a research steering group including the Heritage Crafts Association, the Heritage Lottery Fund, English Heritage, the Office of the Prince of Wales, and CITB-ConstructionSkills, it surveyed over 700 Heritage Crafts businesses on the detail of their work and created a forecasting model to view future trends.

It reveals that the Heritage Crafts sector contributes £4.4 billion in GVA to the UK economy with growth of 12% predicted in the workforce for the period 2012-2022.

3. Government reports and announcements

Lord Heseltine’s review of competitiveness
In our last policy brief we reported that the Crafts Council had responded to Lord Heseltine’s Review of Competitiveness Our response focused on: the role of makers in unlocking innovation in other sectors; the specific challenges of a sector heavily populated by sole traders; and the need for brokerage for growth opportunities in collaborative innovation to succeed.

On 31 October 2012 the Government published Lord Heseltine’s report No Stone Unturned in Pursuit of Growth. The report makes 89 recommendations which aim to:
• inject stability into the economy
• create the conditions for growth, and
• maximise the performance of the UK.

Lord Heseltine recommends that
• a National Growth Council be put in place, led by the Prime Minister;
• funding is devolved to Local Enterprise Partnerships with a clear government statement of its priorities to guide them;
• and that the government develops a clear policy for each sector of the economy in conjunction with industry and academia.

He also proposes
• longer term stability of core funding for science and research (recommendation 39), highlighting the US government’s approach to driving innovation and supporting small businesses through a dedicated $2bn Small Business Innovation Research Programme; and
• that business engagement should be incorporated far deeper into the school curriculum in order to develop young people’s understanding of business, increase their employability. (recommendation 76).

The Government is to take time to respond in detail to the report.

BIS Research Plans 2012-13: An Overview of Economic and Social Research
During November BIS published its research plans for 2012-13. The plans include the intention to undertake policy development to encourage investment and exports as a route to a more balanced economy. Research set out in the Crafts Council’s Craft in an Age of Change shows that over 70% of makers do not export their products outside the UK, but that amongst those who do, however, exports account for almost 20% of turnover. The Crafts Council intends to prioritise exports through a number of interventions over the next few years – see our e-bulletins for update on new programmes and Rosy Greenlees’ latest update which relates news of her visit to Hong Kong for Creative Britain Week and how this is helping to inform our plans to support makers in international markets.

Update on DCMS creative industries consultation on sector statistics
The DCMS will be launching a consultation on the definitions and classification of the creative industries used in statistics representing the wider sector. The consultation is likely to take place in December or January and last for twelve weeks. It will seek contributions to update the view of the creative industries but is not expected to produce a radically changed definition. The consultation will be made up of two parts:

a) A proposal to update the DCMS classifications of creative industries and occupations based on standard industry codes.
b) A call for evidence on where the codes need amending to better reflect the realities of the UK’s creative industries
The Crafts Council has contributed evidence to research informing the DCMS’s approach to the consultation, pointing out how a number of craft disciplines, such as jewellery, do not count toward data on the creative industries under the current classifications.

4. Arts Education

Leading figures in the arts community (including Grayson Perry, Sir Nicholas Hytner, Sir Nicholas Serota, Julian Lloyd Webber, Richard Rogers and Sir David Hare) have voiced concern at the decision to leave arts subjects out of the English baccalaureate. The issue was covered in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Arts Desk.com, The London Evening Standard and Radio 4’s Start the Week.

On the same theme the Crafts Council recently contributed to a seminar hosted by the Westminster Education Forum, entitled The end of GCSEs – the future for examinations at 16 and the English Baccalaureate Publication. Our presentation focused on the educational benefits of craft in terms of cognitive and physical development and the evidence that competencies are “transferable‟ in a broad sense. We also emphasised our support for art, craft and design education to be incorporated in the Ebaccalaureate as a sixth core subject area, alongside English, mathematics, the sciences, history, geography (the humanities) and languages. Other contributors included Lord Lucas of Crudwell and Dingwall, Lindsay Roy MP, Greg Hurst (Education Editor of the Times) and Russell Hobby (General Secretary of the NAHT). We are continuing to focus on the EBacc issue, working with the Cultural Learning Alliance and independently with DfE.

5. Responses to consultations

Museums 2020 response
The Crafts Council responded to Museums 2020, the Museums Association’s initiative to create a new vision for UK museums and their impact through a focus on the difference that museums can make to individuals, communities, society and the environment. Whilst the Crafts Council is a national development agency rather than a physical museum, it promotes access to museum-quality contemporary craft through loans and displays of objects from the Crafts Council Collection, national and regional exhibitions presented in partnership, touring and online exhibitions and by profiling the work of other contemporary craft collections to facilitate the inspiration, learning and enjoyment that are amongst the aims of museums.

Read the Crafts Council response.

AHRC strategy 2013-18
We have also responded to the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s draft strategy 2013-18, published in October. We particularly welcome the proposed Digital Transformations and Science in Culture themes. On the latter, we suggested that that “natural sciences” was perhaps too narrow a focus.

Our briefing note Crafting Capital (2011, Crafts Council) has drawn attention to the contribution contemporary craft makes to innovation and enterprise and the relationship between making, science and technology as did Assemble 2012. The Crafts Council is also on the Advisory Board of REACT (one of four AHRC-funded Knowledge Exchange Hubs for the Creative Economy). REACT is running a series of “sandboxes” over four years including an Objects Sandbox in 2014.

6. Other announcements

Creative Employment Programme
Arts Council England has announced that it has selected the National Skills Academy as the national partner for the Creative Employment Programme which aims to help young unemployed people find paid entry level work in the arts and cultural sector.

The National Skills Academy will be responsible for delivering Arts Council funding of up to £15 million to benefit unemployed young people aged 16-24. Through the Creative Employment Programme, Creative & Cultural Skills through its’ Skills Academy network intends to create:

1. 1,600 Young Apprenticeships, targeted at 16-18 year olds
2. 2,900 Creative Apprenticeships, targeted at 16-24 year olds
3. 2000 paid internships through a new Internship Academy in partnership with New Deal of the Mind.

The Crafts Council continues to work with Creative & Cultural Skills to implement the recommendations of the Craft Blueprint.

Launch of the National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural in Wales.
Representatives from creative and cultural sectors met to celebrate the launch of the National Skills Academy for Creative and Cultural in Wales on 23 October 2012. ‘Connecting Creativity: Launching the National Skills Academy for Creative & Cultural in Wales’ was held at the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Bay.

Enterprise Research Centre launches
Warwick and Aston Universities have been chosen to host a new Enterprise Research Centre that will help develop understanding of the factors affecting business investment, performance and growth. The centre launches on 1 January 2013 and will become a national and international focal point for research, knowledge and expertise on small and medium-sized businesses.

The new £2.9 million centre will develop the existing knowledge base and data resources, strengthen the links between evidence and practice, and inform government policy and business practice for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UK. It is a joint collaboration between the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Technology Strategy Board.
Warwick and Aston University will work alongside a consortium of other universities including Strathclyde, Birmingham, De Montfort and Imperial College London.

Digital Makers: Open Call
Nesta and Nominet Trust, in partnership with Mozilla, have announced an open call for ideas to significantly increase the number of young people who participate in digital making activities.

They are looking to support initiatives that invite mass participation and use young people’s interests and passions to drive demand from new audiences to become creators, not just consumers of digital technologies – in their thousands. They want to work with organisations who will “shout loudly about this work, championing digital making activities and helping to raise demand amongst young people”.

The first call is backed by a fund of £225,000 and Nesta expect to make a small number of grants between £20,000 and £50,000 alongside a package of tailored non-financial support.
The closing date is 17 January 2013.