Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to promote the uptake of (a) extracurricular activities and (b) education for children.

The Schools White Paper, published in March 2022, sets out the Department’s long-term vision for a school system that helps every child to fulfil their potential by ensuring that they receive the right support, in the right place, at the right time.

The White Paper is clear that sport, music and cultural opportunities are an essential part of a broad and balanced curriculum. The Department is committed to ensuring young people have opportunities to participate in high quality enrichment activities. The Department supports a range of initiatives to increase these opportunities.

The Department’s national plan for music education sets out the vision for music education and details how it can be achieved through partnerships with schools, music hubs, the music and creative sector, and others. The plan can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-power-of-music-to-change-lives-a-national-plan-for-music-education.

The Department is also updating the cross-Government school sport and activity action plan, setting out actions to help all pupils take part in sport and keep fit.

The Department is supporting the National Youth Guarantee by providing £3.4 million between 2021 and 2024 to support the Duke of Edinburgh Award to expand into more schools in the most disadvantaged areas of the country. The Department is also supporting schools to increase participation in cadet schemes.

Beyond the school day, the Department is providing over £200 million each year to Local Authorities across England for the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme. HAF provides free holiday club places with enriching activities and healthy food for children from low income families during the summer, Easter and Christmas school holidays.