Music and Dance Scheme

Baroness Bull Excerpts

Tuesday 24th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

The Government will launch a new centre for arts and music education to take forward the ambitions, which my noble friend rightly asks of us, for improved and more equitable arts education in state-funded schools, including a focus on dance. The music and dance scheme is a long-standing programme and the department will consider future funding in due course. Tough decisions have had to be made to get our finances back under control, including, as my noble friend identifies, on additional funding that was made available to dance outreach. Nevertheless, all eligible MDS students for dance have continued to receive bursaries.

[Baroness Bull (CB)]

My Lords, I welcome the Government’s continued support of MDS and the national centres, and the recognition of their vital role in opening up dance careers to diverse talent. However, does the Minister share my concern that too many children will never know whether they have a talent for dance? Despite dance being a statutory part of the national curriculum, one-third of primary schools are reported not to teach it, and its place within PE means that teachers often do not have the confidence or skill set to deliver that teaching. What steps are the Government taking to improve the place of dance teaching within schools, and will they consider a national plan for dance education or a model dance curriculum, akin to those that exist for music?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

The noble Baroness is right that dance is part of the national curriculum for PE, which is part of the entitlement for children in all the first three key stages. I recognise her point about ensuring not only that it exists in the curriculum but that it is of high quality as well. I will bear in mind her point about how we can ensure, as we recruit additional teachers into our schools, that we have the specialist teachers with expertise in dance to be able to deliver it.