Minsters from the Department for International Trade and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) will today host industry leaders including Adobe at a Creative Investor Roundtable. They will discuss the UK’s strengths as a creative hub and the UK’s unique offer in the creative sector.

Hosted at 10 Downing Street, the event is the fifth in a series of investment roundtables which promote UK industry sector opportunities to a global audience, and drive foreign direct investment into the UK.

Newly released figures from the DCMS show the value of the creative industries to the UK is up from £94.8 billion in 2016 to £101.5 billion, and has grown at nearly twice the rate of the economy since 2010.

The investment from Adobe will benefit the number of creatives, small businesses and enterprises in the UK who currently use the company’s software, accelerating innovation and driving economic growth.

The company has grown its workforce in the UK by 30 per cent in last two years and has offices in Shoreditch, Maidenhead and Edinburgh.

Companies attending the roundtable include:

• Adobe
• Discovery
• EA Games
• Sony Film
• Viacom

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Jeremy Wright said:

The UK is home to world-leading creative and digital industries and our latest statistics show these booming sectors are now worth more than £230bn to the economy.

We are already Europe’s leading tech hub, with the talent, environment and entrepreneurship that businesses want, so it is great to see Adobe creating even more high-skilled jobs and investing here.

Through our modern Industrial Strategy we are committed to making Britain the best place in the world to do business.

Investment Minister Graham Stuart said:

Adobe’s announcement is another show of confidence in our world-leading creative sector, one of the fastest growing parts of UK economy.

As an international economic department, we are proud that the UK receives more inward investment in the creative and digital industries than any other European country.

However, we realise that there is still huge untapped global potential. That’s why I’m looking forward to attending the Creative Investor Roundtable today, to discuss where there is further global demand for British creative expertise and how we can work together to drive investment into the UK.

Gavin Mee, Vice President for Northern Europe and UK MD, Adobe said:

Adobe is the global leader in creativity, providing the creative platform for all, and the UK is a critical market for our business growth and innovation. Recently, we’ve grown our workforce, opened a new office in Shoreditch, and we are committed to furthering our investment in the UK and the impact it will drive across the economy.

The Government continues to back the creative industries. There has been a £12.6bn increase to the sector since the introduction of dedicated tax reliefs supporting high-end television and film production. There was also £1.38bn of inward investment in the film industry last year as a result of tax relief.

As part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy, nine new Creative Clusters across the UK have benefitted from £80m funding to boost innovation by part-funding research partnerships between universities and industry.

They aim to increase the use of digital technologies to improve audience experience in the screen and performance industries, and shorten production times in the design industry.

The UK is a world leader in the digital economy, with venture capital in London’s tech sector reaching an all-time high last year of £2.45bn – more than Germany, France, Spain and Ireland combined.

More than 2.1 million people are employed in the digital and tech economy and the UK has more than 800,000 professional software developers, adding more than £116.5bn to the UK economy.

The UK is the number one destination for tech talent, with one in five of all international movers coming to the UK.

Further Information:

Find out more about DCMS’s Sectors Economic Estimates

Full list of roundtable attendees:

• Adobe
• British Film Commission
• British Film Institute
• BBC Studios
• Discovery Inc
• Electronic Arts
• Fremantle
• Microsoft Xbox
• Magic Leap
• Poly Group Corporation
• Rockstar Games
• Sega
• Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe
• Sony Pictures
• Sky UK
• Take Two Interactive
• Turner International
• Ubisoft
• UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE)
• Viacom International Media Networks

About Adobe

Adobe is a provider of creative, digital document and customer experience management solutions, empowering everyone from individual creative professionals to large enterprises to create digital experiences that drive the UK’s economy. The investment will further grow the number of consumers, small businesses and enterprises in the UK who currently use the company’s software, accelerating innovation and driving economic growth.

The company’s office in Shoreditch hosts hundreds of creative professionals, marketers and executives throughout the course of the year. Additionally, Adobe works with university and educators throughout the UK to ensure that students and young professionals are developing creative and technical skills needed for jobs in the new digital economy.

Jobseekers have set up more than 26,000 new businesses under the New Enterprise Allowance scheme.

Jobseekers have set up more than 26,000 new businesses under the New Enterprise Allowance scheme.

Entrepreneurial jobseekers have set up more than 26,000 new businesses thanks to a government scheme that helps unemployed people turn their dreams of becoming their own boss into a reality, new figures published today (21 August 2013) show.

From gourmet chocolate companies to internet games designers, the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA) has been behind a wide range of new ventures since it was introduced in 2011, with the most recent statistics showing around 2,000 new businesses being set up every month.

The NEA offers expert mentoring and financial support to jobseekers who want to start up their own business, helping people who have previously been on benefits turn their business ideas into successful enterprises.

Today’s figures also show that beneficiaries of the scheme come from all ages, with more than 6,000 businesses started by people aged 50 or over – challenging the idea that entrepreneurial zeal is solely a youthful attribute.

Almost 4,000 disabled people were also helped by the scheme to become their own boss.

Minister for Employment Mark Hoban said:

The New Enterprise Allowance is a great example of the aspiration nation in action: government offering support to people with ideas, as well as the ‘can-do’ attitude to turn them into successful enterprises.

Every month, we are successfully supporting around 2,000 jobseekers to get off benefits and start their own business so that they can fulfill their aspiration to look after themselves and their families.

Welcoming the announcement, entrepreneurship ambassador, Levi Roots said:

I am a big fan of the New Enterprise Allowance – it’s a great scheme, which helps people with ideas make the most of their talent.

By offering expert mentoring support and start up funds it sends a message to those thinking about starting their own business: ‘you’re not alone’.

Case studies

Luke Boulton-Major

Luke Boulton-Major, 26, set up a martial arts and fitness centre in Bristol through the NEA scheme. Luke spent 4 years training and studying taekwondo in South Korea in his early twenties. On his return to the UK he couldn’t find work or anywhere to continue his martial arts training.

After being unemployed for 6 months he took part in the NEA scheme and decided to open up his own gym and martial arts centre in Bristol which is now the biggest purpose-built martial arts centre in the country.

Simon Short

A Grimsby entrepreneur, who spent 16 years in and out of prison, has set up his own business through the NEA.

Simon Short, who set up education and training social enterprise, The Intelligence Project, says:

Self-employment is the quickest way for offenders to be employed, if their risk-taking nature and money-oriented traits can be channelled positively. Those entrepreneurial attributes are essential in business.

The Intelligence Project delivers education and training to ex-offenders to help reintroduce them to life outside of prison. Through self-referrals and those from the government’s Work Programme, Simon and his team assess an individual’s social capital before assigning them with a mentor, who has had similar life experiences. The mentor then helps build a personal development plan, to help that person overcome issues such as housing or mental health, so they can become more self-sufficient.

More information

From April 2011 to May 2013 (inclusive) there have been:

• 54,410 starts with a New Enterprise Allowance business mentor

• 26,160 starts to the New Enterprise Allowance weekly allowance

The NEA, launched in April 2011, aims to help unemployed people who want to start their own business. NEA is available to Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) claimants aged 18 and over.

Participants receive access to a volunteer business mentor who will provide them with guidance and support as they develop their business plan and through the first 6 months of trading. Once participants have demonstrated they have a viable business proposition with the potential for growth in the future, they are able to access financial support.

This consists of:

• a weekly allowance worth £1,274 over 26 weeks, paid at £65 a week for the first 13 weeks and £33 a week for a further 13 weeks

• if they need start-up capital, they may also be able to access a loan up to £1,000 to help with their start-up costs

The total package of support is worth up to £2,274 to each participant who starts their own business.

Visit the New Enterprise Allowance scheme webpage for full details.

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The Charity Commission, the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales, is today announcing that it has opened a statutory inquiry into Rigpa Fellowship (279315). The inquiry was opened on 8 November 2018.

The charity, which is based in London, has objects to advance the Buddhist religion, and provides religious education, training and activities.

The Commission has been engaging with the charity since August 2017 over serious concerns about adult safeguarding. The regulator’s concerns have escalated in the course of this engagement, prompting the opening of a statutory inquiry.

The inquiry will examine the charity’s governance, policies and practices with regard to adult safeguarding, particularly in relation to:

• its response, general handling and disclosure to the Commission and other agencies in relation to serious adult safeguarding incidents
• its responsibility to provide a safe environment for its beneficiaries, staff and other charity workers in the delivery of its programmes

More generally the inquiry will examine the charity’s:

• recruitment and supervision of its employees, volunteers and other charity workers
• financial controls and their application
• responsibility to maintain its reputation as a charity which can be entrusted with public support and the confidence of its beneficiaries, staff and volunteers

It is the Commission’s policy, after an inquiry has concluded, to publish a report detailing what issues the inquiry looked at, what actions were undertaken as part of the inquiry and what the outcomes were.

Reports of previous inquiries by the Commission are available on GOV.UK.

Ends

Notes to editors

1. The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. To find out more about our work see the about us page on GOV.UK.
2. Search for charities on our check charity tool.
3. Section 46 of the Charities Act 2011 gives the Commission the power to institute inquiries. The opening of an inquiry gives the commission access to a range of investigative, protective and remedial legal powers.