Letter: Creative future

The announcement by skills minister Angela Constance that the Scottish Government is to commit £500,000 to nurture the television drama production teams of the future is a real vote of confidence in Scotland's creative industries.

The ambition of Creative Scotland to increase turnover from the creative industries by 100 million and to create more than 1,500 jobs over the next three years is admirable and is potentially also the tip of a much larger iceberg.

The most recent sectoral analysis predicts that employment in the wider creative and cultural sector could expand by 40 per cent over the next seven years, generating as many as 18,000 new jobs.

In terms of future job creation, it's clear that Scotland's creative sector has the potential to punch significantly above its weight and offers many exciting opportunities for skills and career development.

The public funding committed this week will be hugely helpful in nurturing new talent and building up the skills base of the sector, while delivering significant knock-on benefits for the wider economy.

Jacqui Hepburn

Alliance of Sector Skills Councils in Scotland

Castle Street

Edinburgh