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Computer Games Industry

I thank my hon. Friend for his intervention. He is absolutely correct. When we took evidence at Abertay university, we were told that, every day, students there who are studying the computer games industry and will graduate in that subject are receiving phone calls from France, Ireland and Canada saying that they will be offered a job there. Most of the students who study computer games do not end up employed by a company in the UK; they end up starting their own business. It is extremely galling for people in Dundee, who want to locate in Dundee, to find that it is much easier to move abroad than to stay in the UK, so I thank my hon. Friend for that point. On that subject, if we stifle young companies with a lack of finance, we cannot hope to see economic growth. We must return to rewarding those who take appropriate, but not reckless, risk in starting and running businesses. There are other proposals that the UK Government could implement to support UK games developers. TIGA has called for the creation of a creative content fund. That would allow for funding on a pound-for-pound basis up to £100,000 for companies that produce highly creative content. The UK Government must acknowledge that computer games developers and other creative industries have specific requirements that are not being addressed. The creation of a creative content fund would target funding on those industries, and show that their needs were catered for. It would encourage investment, growth and job creation. I ask the Minister to draw up plans to consult on introducing these measures, and to work with the industry and the Treasury to put in place a policy that encourages and rewards creative investment. As for the value of higher education and of a skilled work force for the industry, I am well aware that higher education spending is a devolved matter, but the Government could do a number of things. A major requirement for developers is a highly skilled and trained work force. The industry is populated largely by graduates and, as I mentioned earlier, securing jobs for Dundee graduates has had a great effect on the city. I welcome the Government's decision earlier this year to award funding to Abertay university. However, it remains a small sum compared with the support that could be offered. The Scottish Affairs Committee's report highlighted the real concern that there are too few mathematics and computer science graduates to sustain the industry. Abertay has led the way on this, and I urge the Government to work with universities and industry to ensure that we have the work force and skills base that the economy needs. Abertay has acted as an experiment on what can be done in partnership between higher education institutions and the private sector. I ask the Government to work with the Scottish Executive to develop working relationships of that sort, and to ensure that public spending cuts do not harm access to higher education or the quality of teaching and research. The theme that runs through my speech today is a call for a more coherent and aggressive growth strategy from the Government. I well understand Ministers arguing that we need a simplified tax incentive structure. I am sure that we would all agree that unnecessary complication would be a hindrance to economic growth. However, we sometimes need an element of necessary complication. The temptation to find simple solutions to complicated problems can be far too alluring; instead, we should accept that there is a case to be made for having specific solutions to specific problems. Individual industries require tailored support to meet their needs. Whether it is tax breaks for the UK film industry or tax breaks for games developers, the Government must introduce policies that actually work for the many important industries that we have in the UK.