Photo of Ballet dancer
News

Cultural sector tops the economic growth league

New analysis of official statistics reveals good progress made by the cultural sector in comparison with other creative sectors under the DCMS.

Liz Hill
2 min read

The contribution of the cultural sector to the UK economy grew by £3.5bn in 2014/15 to reach £27.5m gross value added (GVA). The 15% growth rate was the highest of all the sectors within the DCMS portfolio.

The combined performance of DCMS sectors outstripped that of the UK economy as a whole last year. The creative industries, cultural sector, digital sector, gambling, sport, telecoms and tourism accounted for over 13% of all UK GVA, having grown by 3.6%, compared with 2.3% for the whole UK economy.

New statistics

The figures have been released in a DCMS report that takes a new approach to evaluating the contribution to the UK economy made by seven sectors within the DCMS portfolio, enabling them to be viewed in a consistent way for the first time. As well as presenting GVA comparisons, it reports on exports and imports of services, and the number of enterprises in each sector.

Between 2013 and 2014, the report shows:

  • Cultural sector service exports grew by 14% to reach £5.4bn, making up 2.5% of all UK service exports;
  • 47% of exports went to EU countries;
  • Cultural service imports were worth £2.5bn; and
  • The number of cultural enterprises grew by 1,300, to 65,500.

A work in progress

The aim of the new statistics is to enable policy-makers to monitor the performance of the DCMS industries and determine the effectiveness of policy interventions; but the methodology for compiling them is still under development.

Evaluating the contribution of the cultural sector presents particular difficulties. The report notes that while the new approach attempts to better define the sector, “there are many cases where culture forms a small part of a different industry classification and therefore cannot be separately identified”.

The DCMS is consulting on the definition of culture and a formal request for feedback from users about the methodology will be launched on 9 August. Feedback on any aspect of the methodology can be sent to [email protected].