Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Foster of Bath Excerpts

Monday 23rd May 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Hayes]

I will tell the hon. Lady what I will guarantee. I will guarantee that colleges can make those kind of discretionary decisions. She is right: different colleges in different areas, serving different cohorts, need funds to support different kinds of activities to deal with different challenges. That is exactly the kind of flexibility that we intend to help her college and her learners.

[Mr Don Foster (Bath) (LD)]

18. What steps he is taking to improve the standard of arts and culture education in schools.

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Mr Nick Gibb)]

We want all children and young people to be able to experience a strong cultural education. Following the review of music education, the Government have asked Darren Henley to carry out a review of cultural education, both in and out of school.

[Mr Foster]

The Minister will recognise, however, that the creative industries are crucial to the country’s economic recovery. Is he aware that many of the leaders of those industries remain to be convinced that sufficient is being done to include within the national curriculum the subjects that really matter to them—art, design, technology and so on? May we have a categorical assurance that guidance has been given to the national curriculum review to ensure that those subjects are included properly?

[Mr Gibb]

The national curriculum review is considering which subjects should be compulsory at which stages of a pupil’s education, and it will make its recommendations in due course. However, just because a subject is not in the national curriculum does not mean that it is not an important subject. It can be important but outside the national curriculum. We have to distinguish between the national curriculum and a school curriculum. We want to give schools more discretion in drawing up school curricula.