Westminster creates gaming group

When politicians become involved in debates around video games, it is often for all the wrong reasons. However, as the games industry has grown in financial clout, politicians in the UK have started to reevaluate their views of the industry. The latest evidence of this is an All Party Parliamentary group that has been set up with the support of Tiga, the UK's game development trade association.

Chaired by Bill Olner, outgoing Labour MP for Nuneaton, the group's remit is "to provide a forum to discuss business issues affecting video games software developers, to develop policies to enhance the sector, and to champion an industry that responsibly creates content for an audience ranging from children to adults."

Along with Olner, the group will be run by Lord Putnam of Queensgate, John Whittingdale MP, Phillip Davies MP--who are all vice chairmen of the new group--and Nick Palmer MP, who will act as treasurer. Olner praised Tiga for leading the creation of this new group saying, "All-Party Groups can be a highly effective vehicle to raise and discuss issues amongst interested Parliamentarians...the entire All Party Parliamentary Group is looking forward to working with Tiga in discussing issues crucial to the video games industry."

Richard Wilson, Tiga's CEO, was equally optimistic when it came to assessing the impact the group might have in the future. "The establishment of the All Party Group on the Computer and Video Games Industry will ensure that issues affecting the sector, including the tax system, skill needs, and industry-academia links, are raised still more effectively in Parliament and government," he said.

The formation comes days after the newly appointed Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport acknowledged the importance of the games industry in Parliament and confirmed that the government was looking at introducing further tax breaks for UK game development. This issue, as well as that of game classification, is likely to be addressed next week when the government's Digital Britain report is published.