Caroline Dinenage

Source: UK Parliament Official Portrait

Caroline Dinenage

The UK parliament’s cross-party culture, media and sport (CMS) committee is calling on the creative industries to take part in a first-of-its-kind style of inquiry.

A rolling inquiry, titled State of Play, sees the committee call on those in the culture, media and sporting world to pitch for one-off evidence sessions that will be held by the committee, on a subject from their industry that they feel has been overlooked, and faces challenges.

Caroline Dinenage, chair of the committee, soft-launched State of Play at the British Screen Forum conference held in London in November. The committee aims to hold four to six evidence sessions a year to explore the challenges raised by the successful proposals before making recommendations to the government. It is not a platform for individual grievances or cases of complaints to be addressed, but to help steer government in how to better support certain sectors.

“State of Play is a new style of inquiry that will give everyone involved in culture, media and sport the chance to have their voices heard across the country,” said Dinenage.

“We want to hear about the emerging challenges and opportunities facing our fantastic creative industries. We want to hear about the potential and the barriers for sports – especially those that you don’t yet often see on TV. And we want to hear about the future of media, as we change how and what we watch.”

The committee is currently undertaking the second iteration of its inquiry into film and high-end TV. This is expected to draw to a close early next year, with the committee then submitting its findings and recommendations to government. Film and high-end TV organisations are still encouraged to submit for State of Play, despite the work of the film and high-end TV inquiry, if they feel there is a specific challenge yet to be addressed.

The CMS committee scrutinises the spending, policies and administration of the government Department for Culture, Media and Sport.