Asked by: John Slinger (Labour - Rugby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has assessed the quality of provision of music lessons by private companies in state-funded schools, including whether they enhance or detract from the likelihood of students pursuing classical music tuition or academic study in later years.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Schools can work with a range of partners, including private providers, to offer instrumental and vocal tuition as part of their enrichment offer, including provision for which parents may be charged.
The department provides £76 million annually to support 43 Music Hub partnerships across England. These Hubs support schools in providing high-quality music education across a range of genres and bring together a range of partners. Schools may also choose to work with providers outside the Music Hub network.
The Enrichment Framework for schools and colleges, published in June 2026, supports schools with planning, strengthening and reviewing their enrichment offer and provides benchmarks, tools and resources. The department’s ‘Charging for School Activities Guidance’ also sets out the framework for schools’ charging policies, including voluntary contributions and reduced charges.
Asked by: John Slinger (Labour - Rugby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on private companies providing music lessons in state-funded schools during school time and making profits as a result.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Schools can work with a range of partners, including private providers, to offer instrumental and vocal tuition as part of their enrichment offer, including provision for which parents may be charged.
The department provides £76 million annually to support 43 Music Hub partnerships across England. These Hubs support schools in providing high-quality music education across a range of genres and bring together a range of partners. Schools may also choose to work with providers outside the Music Hub network.
The Enrichment Framework for schools and colleges, published in June 2026, supports schools with planning, strengthening and reviewing their enrichment offer and provides benchmarks, tools and resources. The department’s ‘Charging for School Activities Guidance’ also sets out the framework for schools’ charging policies, including voluntary contributions and reduced charges.
Asked by: John Slinger (Labour - Rugby)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has assessed the role of private companies in providing music classes in state schools through charging parents.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Schools can work with a range of partners, including private providers, to offer instrumental and vocal tuition as part of their enrichment offer, including provision for which parents may be charged.
The department provides £76 million annually to support 43 Music Hub partnerships across England. These Hubs support schools in providing high-quality music education across a range of genres and bring together a range of partners. Schools may also choose to work with providers outside the Music Hub network.
The Enrichment Framework for schools and colleges, published in June 2026, supports schools with planning, strengthening and reviewing their enrichment offer and provides benchmarks, tools and resources. The department’s ‘Charging for School Activities Guidance’ also sets out the framework for schools’ charging policies, including voluntary contributions and reduced charges.
Asked by: John Slinger (Labour - Rugby)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her department has considered legislating or amending the Online Safety Act (Section 162) so that Ofcom could require music streaming services and music video services to provide to independent researchers with information about how their algorithms select music for users and to assess whether it provides a level playing field.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS has no current plans to amend Section 162 of the Online Safety Act (OSA). DCMS has committed to consult to establish the framework for researchers to access data held by digital platforms under section 154A. The Act sets out that the data be for the purposes of ‘independent research into online safety matters’, which is defined as anything relating to Ofcom’s online safety functions. This does not include algorithms to select music for users.
Asked by: John Slinger (Labour - Rugby)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether her department is considering measures to require music streaming services such as Spotify and music video services such as YouTube to provide transparency information on how recommendation algorithms work, in the context of US media indexing in other English speaking markets.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to ensuring the UK music sector remains globally competitive and resilient against international market pressures. My department regularly engages with major streaming and video platforms, including Spotify and YouTube, to monitor market trends. While there are currently no plans to introduce algorithmic transparency requirements, we keep digital music markets under continuous review to support a fair and thriving environment for UK creators.
Asked by: John Slinger (Labour - Rugby)
Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, whether his department considered asking the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate the consolidation of independent music distributors by major record companies based overseas.
Answered by Kate Dearden - Minister of State (Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade)
As the UK’s independent competition authority, the Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) investigates mergers that meet certain jurisdictional tests based on UK turnover or market share, as set out in the Enterprise Act 2002. The government has ensured that the CMA has significant powers and expertise to investigate the benefits and risks of mergers in relation to competition.
Asked by: John Slinger (Labour - Rugby)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his department has considered a tax on online music and video streaming services that directs revenues towards grassroots artists and music makers.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events, and does not routinely comment on proposals.
Asked by: John Slinger (Labour - Rugby)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, if, in the context of the review of National Lottery funding and its distribution, the Government will consider increasing the proportion of National Lottery proceeds allocated to culture to 25 per cent.
Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government recognises the vital importance of National Lottery funding for the arts and culture, and remains fully committed to supporting these sectors.
Through our Call for Evidence on National Lottery good cause funding we are gathering evidence on how funding can best reflect modern priorities, empower communities to give them a greater voice, and how we simplify the system to reduce bureaucracy and improve efficiency.
Following closure of the review on 23 September 2026, the Government will analyse all responses received, and respond in due course.
Asked by: John Slinger (Labour - Rugby)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, a) what research her department has conducted on for what reason the most serious criminality is committed by men and b) what if any measures are being considered to reduce this.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office has not conducted research on the reasons why much of the most serious criminality is committed by men. The Government is committed to keeping people safe and tackling all forms of crime
Asked by: John Slinger (Labour - Rugby)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she expects University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust to remain within the same Integrated Care Board as Rugby following local government reorganisation; and what steps she is taking to help ensure continued effective commissioning of urgent and emergency care services for Rugby residents.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
I refer the Hon Member to the policy statement made collectively by the Cabinet Office on 31 July, which is available at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rewiring-the-state-cabinet-statement
This made clear the commitment to aligning key public service boundaries to facilitate effective delivery that better meets population needs. We will make further statements in due course on the implications of this approach for local delivery of health services.
Regarding urgent and emergency care services in Rugby, the NHS Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board is developing and delivering an Integrated Urgent and Emergency Care Programme. The programme aims to improve access, support more care closer to home, reduce avoidable pressure on hospital services, and provide patients with more joined-up care. More information regarding this programme can be found at the following link: