In an interview with film producer David Puttnam that was made public, Hodge was asked whether the government was trying to do it 'on the cheap', with Puttnam noting that industrycommentators had said they 'couldn't see where the money was coming from'.
The minister had pulled out of a recent Creative Economy conference but spoke to Puttnam instead.
Hodge insisted that the money needed for the Creative Industries Strategy was already in place from existing funds.
'We call what we are doing 'from the margins to the mainstream' and there is a purpose in that,' Hodge explained. 'We are going to ensure that our mainstream programmes meet the needs of the creative industry sector. So for all the education and skills stuff, the money is there. For all the stuff about business support and enterprise funds, the money is there. We have just got to make sure the money works for us.'
The minister went on to highlight specific funding to support elements of the strategy, such as the government's proposed Global Creative Business Conference.
'I have got a budget to play around with,' said the minister.
The strategy's headline measures also feature government proposals to legislate on illegal file sharing. And here, Hodge criticised the slow progress of the UK film industry in developing the business models needed to combat online piracy.
'The film industry is behind [the music industry],' Hodge argued. 'I think the music industry - probably because they were so badly hit by illegal downloading - have worked much harder at new business models and I think the film industry has a way to go to that. They have just got to put their brains around it.'
In the meantime, the industry has already voiced its displeasure about some of the other headline measures included in the Creative Industries Strategy.
For example, a plan to create 5,000 apprenticeships across the creative industries sector by 2013 was subject to criticism from some UK film producers because of a new mandatory training levy they'll have to pay.
The government is already pressing ahead with plans to create an industry training board (ITB) to run the programme.
Other measures in the Strategy received a warmer welcome from the film industry, including plans for a finishing school in animation education in partnership with Aardman Animations; the encouragement of applications for Enterprise Capital Funds (ECFs) from the creative industries; and UK Film Council involvement in the development of 'mixed media centres' in cultural venues in Manchester, Nottingham, Newcastle, Liverpool, Sheffield, and Bristol.
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