Creative industries in the UK face skills shortage, says Pinewood CEO
12 November 2014
Creative industries are facing a skills shortage in the UK, warned Ivan Dunleavy, chief executive of Pinewood Shepperton.
Wed, 12 Nov 2014 | By Nicola Sullivan, from the CBI ConferenceCreative industries are facing a skills shortage in the UK, warned Ivan Dunleavy, chief executive of Pinewood Shepperton.
Addressing delegates at the CBI Conference, held at Grosvenor House in London’s West End this week, Dunleavy said the creative industries are worth £70bn a year to the UK’s economy, with UK film alone employing 44,000 people and contributing £1.6m to GDP.
Despite this Dunleavy cautioned that the UK’s creative industries’ ability to maintain its current growth rate of 10% per annum could soon be under threat due to a shortage of skills.
The skills shortages, said Dunleavy, range from craft to high-end digital skills. “We are not sitting at home ringing our hands about this; we are doing lots of things to tackle this issue ourselves,” he said.
Dunleavy explained that Pinewood Shepperton will “extensively” support apprenticeship schemes. He added that 10% of Pinewood Shepperton’s workforce are in apprenticeship training at the moment. Pinewood Shepperton also supports a local college to offer one of its diplomas in institute management. “This is designed to produce the next generation of Pinewood studio managers,” he explained.
Pinewood is also working with the Open University to develop courses on the business of the film industry.
Addressing delegates at the CBI Conference, held at Grosvenor House in London’s West End this week, Dunleavy said the creative industries are worth £70bn a year to the UK’s economy, with UK film alone employing 44,000 people and contributing £1.6m to GDP.
Despite this Dunleavy cautioned that the UK’s creative industries’ ability to maintain its current growth rate of 10% per annum could soon be under threat due to a shortage of skills.
The skills shortages, said Dunleavy, range from craft to high-end digital skills. “We are not sitting at home ringing our hands about this; we are doing lots of things to tackle this issue ourselves,” he said.
Dunleavy explained that Pinewood Shepperton will “extensively” support apprenticeship schemes. He added that 10% of Pinewood Shepperton’s workforce are in apprenticeship training at the moment. Pinewood Shepperton also supports a local college to offer one of its diplomas in institute management. “This is designed to produce the next generation of Pinewood studio managers,” he explained.
Pinewood is also working with the Open University to develop courses on the business of the film industry.
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