UK Government: "We Need to Invest" in Video Games Talent
Government issues response to Livingstone/Hope report - much bluster occurs
The UK ConDem coalition government has responded to the Livingstone/Hope report that it requested from the video games industry in order to justify investment into that industry.
Right up front, the "Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, Business, Innovation and Skills, Ed Vaizey starts the dumbing-down or buttering-up process by being called "the Creative Industries Minister.
He is then quoted as stating:
“The economic and cultural value of the UK’s video games and VFX sectors is clear and the long-term potential of their global markets present a great opportunity for UK-based businesses.
"It is an industry that has real potential to create the high quality jobs of the future that will be so important as we recover from the recession."
All jolly good stuff, and then Mr Vaizey states outright that, "We need to invest in talent that will ensure the UK remains at the forefront of games creativity."
Excellent and at last! So, how much is the government going to invest in this talent? A talent which the government accepts, via a Price Waterhouse Coopers' report, "will grow from $56bn in 2010 to $82bn in 2015"?
Having read through the details response (here as a PDF) we're a bit stumped for an answer.
Let's take as an example, the government's response to the L/H recommendation that the education system in the UK, "Sign up the best teachers to teach computer science through Initial Teacher Training bursaries and ‘Golden Hellos’"
The response is: "The Government recognises the need for more high quality computer science teaching and will, over the next few months, be looking at the best ways to achieve this."
Maybe that example is unfair, let's look at "Recommendation 16: Leading universities and Further Education (FE) colleges sponsor a high-tech creative industries University Technical College (UTC), with clear progression routes into (Higher Eduction) HE."
The response is, "The Government encourages an application by industry to establish a hightech-creative-industries UTC in the next round of UTC applications. UKIE is advising Hackney UTC on the development of their digital media curriculum. As Next Gen Skills continues to make progress UKIE will ensure any activity it undertakes with the UTC is joined up with the wider skills coalition and activity."
Frankly, aside from the widely reported "Coding is the new 'Latin'" there is little of any great weight other than more 'blue-sky thinking' within the response.
Source: The Government
Right up front, the "Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Culture, Communications and Creative Industries, Business, Innovation and Skills, Ed Vaizey starts the dumbing-down or buttering-up process by being called "the Creative Industries Minister.
He is then quoted as stating:
“The economic and cultural value of the UK’s video games and VFX sectors is clear and the long-term potential of their global markets present a great opportunity for UK-based businesses.
"It is an industry that has real potential to create the high quality jobs of the future that will be so important as we recover from the recession."
All jolly good stuff, and then Mr Vaizey states outright that, "We need to invest in talent that will ensure the UK remains at the forefront of games creativity."
Excellent and at last! So, how much is the government going to invest in this talent? A talent which the government accepts, via a Price Waterhouse Coopers' report, "will grow from $56bn in 2010 to $82bn in 2015"?
Having read through the details response (here as a PDF) we're a bit stumped for an answer.
Let's take as an example, the government's response to the L/H recommendation that the education system in the UK, "Sign up the best teachers to teach computer science through Initial Teacher Training bursaries and ‘Golden Hellos’"
The response is: "The Government recognises the need for more high quality computer science teaching and will, over the next few months, be looking at the best ways to achieve this."
Maybe that example is unfair, let's look at "Recommendation 16: Leading universities and Further Education (FE) colleges sponsor a high-tech creative industries University Technical College (UTC), with clear progression routes into (Higher Eduction) HE."
The response is, "The Government encourages an application by industry to establish a hightech-creative-industries UTC in the next round of UTC applications. UKIE is advising Hackney UTC on the development of their digital media curriculum. As Next Gen Skills continues to make progress UKIE will ensure any activity it undertakes with the UTC is joined up with the wider skills coalition and activity."
Frankly, aside from the widely reported "Coding is the new 'Latin'" there is little of any great weight other than more 'blue-sky thinking' within the response.
Source: The Government
People:
Ian Livingstone
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