Dinah Caine
As a sector skills council, with a remit to champion skills and training for the creative media industries, one of Skillset's key functions is to conduct extensive research into our sector and use that information to help us determine and address the key issues that are affecting our industries.
Some of the country's most senior and influential creative media figures sit on our boards and committees, providing us with vital guidance and support and driving everything we do.
We exist to help the industry make sure that it has the right people, with the right skills in the right jobs. This means attracting, training and keeping the best and brightest talent the UK has to offer, regardless of their background or the connections they may or may not have within the media.
In order to support this role, we have launched the Guidelines for Employers Offering Work Placements in the Creative Industries. They have strong support from both industry and government, outlining what an employer's responsibilities are around volunteering, work experience, internships, traineeships and apprenticeships.
Our work is absolutely essential to ensuring that the UK creative media industries – TV, film, radio, interactive media, animation, computer games, facilities, photo imaging, advertising and publishing – are provided with the skills and talent to enable them to stay at the top of their game as leaders on the world's creative stage.
They must also remain relevant to all audiences within the diverse cultural landscape that is the UK today.
This function has never been more important as our sector emerges from recession and faces the immense challenges ahead.
Put together by Skillset, in collaboration Creative & Cultural Skills and Arts Council England, and with input and advice fro all parts of our industry, these guidelines clearly set out the law and employment responsibilities in the creative industries, where gaining entry is so often informal and open to a "who you know" culture.
Latest Skillset statistics reveal that almost half of the creative media workforce (44%) said they had carried out unpaid work to get into the industry.
These guidelines are long-awaited and much needed. This is why we need as much buy-in as possible from employers of every shape and size to take them up.
Alan Milburn's Panel on Fair Access to the Professions, which included representatives from the creative industries, published their final report, Unleashing Aspiration, last summer. It had 88 proposals to help make all the professions open and fair.
A best practice code and quality kite marking for internships were among these. Skillset has responded to the call and moved it further by providing information on all forms of entry experience into the industry.
A springboard for opening up roles
This will make sure that much more is being done to promote fair and equitable access to all entry routes, thereby opening them up to candidates from all backgrounds. These guidelines will provide a springboard for opening up roles to a greater number of talented creatives from more economically and ethnically diverse backgrounds who often find it difficult to break into this competitive sector.
As GMTV and Skillset chair Clive Jones says: "Getting a job in the creative industries should be about talent and potential. Yet this can prove challenging, given the sheer numbers who want a job and how informal entry often is.
"We understand that the recession and its impact mean that this is a challenging time for the industry. But by addressing this issue now we are seeking to make sure that the best and brightest talent is given fair access – and securing that talent is one of the best ways that we can ensure our future."
It is the first time such guidelines have been drawn up and an example of what Skillset does best - working with employers, unions, government and other key stakeholders to develop bold, but realistic strategies and action plans which address these issues and challenges.
For the guidelines, as with so much of our other work, we have been the interface between different parts of the industry. We will be working with key industry figures to discuss how they wish to take this forward and start to meaningfully implement these guidelines. We hope they do. The diversity statistics for our sector show we still have a long way to go in reflecting a much broader cross-section of society in our workforce.
Dinah Caine is chief executive of Skillset, the sector skills council (SSC) for creative media which comprises TV, film, radio, interactive media, animation, computer games, facilities, photo imaging and publishing. SSCs are licensed by the government in the devolved administrations to tackle the skills and productivity challenge by sector
More information about Guidelines for Employers offering Work Placements in the Creative Industries can be found here
