Music Education: State Schools

Earl of Effingham Excerpts

Tuesday 24th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[The Earl of Effingham (Con)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Keeley, for securing both this important debate and her Oral Question today. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Debbonaire, who correctly highlighted the social return of music.

We know that music has the ability to enrich lives, so it is worrying that the future of music education is at risk. In government, we introduced 43 music education hubs and committed £70 million per year of funding for those very hubs. We announced the music progression fund, which was piloted by Young Sounds UK, to support up to 1,000 young people from low-income families over four years. The UK Music chief executive has called on the Secretary of State for Education to turbocharge music education funding and invest in 1,000 new music teachers, as has Ed Sheeran in his open letter to the Prime Minister. So we must ask: what are the Government’s plans to recruit more music teachers?

A survey of 2,200 music teachers by the British Phonographic Industry found that 20% of primary school teachers reported that there is no regular music lesson for their class, and the majority are not taught by a music specialist. Almost 40% of secondary schools now have no compulsory music lessons in year 9. Surely this should be ringing alarm bells.

What are the Government doing to address the drop in pupils taking GCSE and A-level music? We recognise that the Government have plans to launch a new national centre for arts and music education, but, as the noble Baroness, Lady Fleet, so well highlighted, there is very little detail other than that the centre

“is expected to be established in September 2026”.

That is 15 months away. As Ed Sheeran said in his letter, signed and backed by over 500 signatories from the world of music:

“We’re losing time … The time to act is now”.


Please can the Minister provide clarity?