The UK Government’s Creative Industries Sector Plan is an ambitious statement of intent. It places innovation, skills, major events, and global ambition at the heart of its vision for the sector.

At BOP, we believe that good policy is built on good evidence. For over 25 years, our research and evaluation work has helped cultural organisations, funders, and governments articulate the value of what they do, making the case for continued investment.

So we were proud to see so much of our research cited directly in the Sector Plan.

• Our evaluation of the UK Global Screen Fund found that every £1 invested generated £22 in net benefit. The government has since announced £18 million in annual funding for the Fund, more than doubling its size.
• Our work for Games London demonstrated that the London Games Festival contributed nearly £40 million in GVA and over 900 jobs to London’s economy between 2015 and 2024. Games London has now secured direct funding through the Games Growth Package.
• Our evaluation for AHRC found that 90% of businesses supported by the Creative Clusters Programme strongly agreed it contributed to making their city an attractive place to start a creative business. The Sector Plan has since announced £50 million for three additional creative clusters.
• And our ten-year evaluation partnership with the BFI Film Academy evidenced that over 10,000 young filmmakers have been supported through the programme. It will now be scaled up to reach 16 to 25 year olds from underrepresented backgrounds.

Each of these findings contributed to a larger argument: that the creative industries are a serious driver of economic growth, social value, and international competitiveness. We are glad to have played a part in providing this evidence.

Learn more about our work research and impact work here.