Schools: Arts Subjects

Lord Geddes Excerpts

Tuesday 20th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Lord Nash]

I entirely agree with the noble Baroness on the importance of arts subjects, but we are starting from a very low base. Under the last Government, the number of pupils taking a core academic suite of subjects collapsed from 50% to 22%. Under this Government, the figure is back up to nearly 40%. We hope that with Progress 8 building on our EBacc we will now see an increase in arts subjects—and we have seen an increase in arts GCSEs in 2013 and 2014.

[Lord Geddes (Con)]

Does my noble friend agree that dance and music, in particular, form part of an all-round education?

[Lord Nash]

I agree entirely with my noble friend; they are essential subjects. We hope that as a result of our reforms there will be an increased focus on them.