Engaging with Government and Parliament
TIGA continues to engage with senior politicians and civil servants to advance the interests of the video games sector.
TIGA’s response to DCMS’s invitation for evidence for a cultural tax break for British video games
TIGA formed a working group consisting of Richard Wilson, Rick and Nick Gibson from GIC Research and Paul Gardner from Osborne Clarke. We also drew upon expert advice from the Tenon Group, Deloitte and Grant Thornton. Approximately 12 UK developers were contacted in the course of producing TIGA’s evidence.
August 28th, TIGA submitted Investing in the Future: a Tax Relief for the UK Video Games Development Sector (2009) to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). TIGA has liaised with two government departments in relation to our report on Games Tax Relief: DCMS and Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). We are receiving positive feedback about the report.
Separately, TIGA encouraged NESTA to commission its own independent research to support the case for a tax break for games production. 30 publishers, developers and external financiers were surveyed concerning a tax measure of this kind. The resulting report, Time to Play (August, 2009) supported TIGA’s submission.
All Party Computer and Video Games Industry Group
TIGA instigated the creation of the All Party Computer and Video Games Industry Group in the summer. From 11th June the Group officially existed and it is now able to convene meetings in Parliament and the Chairman is able to contact Ministers to request meetings. The Group aims to hold 5 meetings per parliamentary year to raise issues of importance to the industry in Parliament. At our meeting on November 9th, Games Tax Relief, education and skills and support from the Regional Development Agencies for the games sector were discussed.
Political/government meetings
Richard Wilson has met the following MPs over recent weeks in order to raise the profile of the video games industry in Parliament: John Whittingdale MP (Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee), Ed Vaizey MP (Conservative Shadow Arts Minister), Nick Palmer MP, Tom Watson MP, and Bill Olner MP (Chair of the All Party Computer and Video Games Industry Group). Richard has also been contact with Don Foster MP (Liberal Democrats’ Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Minister).
Labour Party Conference
Richard Wilson spoke at a fringe meeting at the Labour Party Conference organised by NESTA, focussing on the creative economy. Speakers included: Rt Hon Ben Bradshaw MP (Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport), Richard Wilson (Chief Executive, TIGA), Wayne Hemingway (Fashion Designer), Miranda Sawyer (Journalist and Broadcaster).
In the autumn TIGA published Investing in the Future: a Tax Relief for the UK Video Games Development Sector. Then in September we published the latest issue of the TIGA Business Opinion Survey (this can be downloaded from the TIGA website.
Consultation documents/correspondence with Government
In August, TIGA submitted a paper to Sion Simon MP, Creative Industries Minister, setting out TIGA’s perspective on the education and skills issues facing the games industry.