Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 10 November (HL Deb col 40), whether they plan to pilot media literacy within the curriculum, and if so, how its efficacy will be assessed.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

On 5 November, the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review published its final report which includes recommendations for a refreshed curriculum and assessment system in England.

As part of the response to the Review the government has committed to ensuring our young people have the skills they need to identify and challenge misinformation, by strengthening media literacy in citizenship and English.

To ensure primary-aged children are introduced to key content on media literacy we have made a commitment to make citizenship compulsory in key stages 1 and 2.

We will also reform the computing curriculum and create a broader computing GCSE so that pupils have the vital digital skills needed for the future such as AI literacy and we will explore a new level 3 qualification in data science and AI.

The department will engage with sector experts and young people in working out how best to reflect this content in the updated curriculum. There will be public consultation on the updated curriculum programmes of study, to seek views on the content before they are finalised.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the statement by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 10 November (HL Deb cols 30–38), whether they plan to pilot changes to media literacy in the curriculum, and how its efficacy will be assessed.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

I refer the noble Lady to the answer of 27 November to Question HL11890.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 10 November (HL Deb col 36), what evidence the decision not to follow the Curriculum and Assessment Review's recommendation that the structure of Progress 8 remains unchanged was based on.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

A July 2025 Skills England report noted that "the creative industries are experiencing significant skills shortages", with 33% of all vacancies attributed to this, and the Curriculum and Assessment Review found declines in entries into some key stage 4 arts qualifications, including music and drama. The department believes that the proposed ‘Progress 8’ structure will support development of these key skills and help deliver the government’s commitment to support young people with the opportunity to study a creative or vocational subject through to the end of key stage 4.

The department will therefore consult on an improved Progress 8 and Attainment 8 that recognises the value of these subjects and balances a strong academic core with breadth and student choice.

Found: : Thinking about the impact of all this, our predecessor Committee was told two years ago by Baroness Barran

Found: : Thinking about the impact of all this, our predecessor Committee was told two years ago by Baroness Barran