Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will provide additional funding to schools in areas of high deprivation to provide all children the opportunity to learn a musical instrument.

Music is a statutory subject in the national curriculum for 5-14 year olds attending maintained schools. Academies and free schools do not have to follow the national curriculum, but they are required to teach a broad and balanced curriculum. It is up to individual schools to decide whether to appoint specialist music teachers.

The Government is investing £300 million of ring-fenced funding in music education hubs in 2016/20. This will ensure that all children, regardless of background, have access to a high quality music education. Hubs ensure that all pupils have the opportunity to learn an instrument, sing and perform regularly and have access to clear routes of progression. The funding formula for allocating funding between music education hubs includes a weighting for disadvantaged pupils.

As well as funding music education hubs, the Government also supports the Music for Youth festival series, National Youth Music Organisations such as the National Youth Orchestra, and the Music and Dance Scheme for exceptionally talented young musicians and dancers.

The Government has not undertaken any enquiries to ascertain whether any schools have removed music from the curriculum in the last five years. However, data on the hours of music taught by teachers in Years 7 to 13 in state funded secondary schools shows that this was 2.4 per cent of total teaching time in 2010, compared with 2.3 per cent in 2016.