Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to increase opportunities for (a) exposure to and (b) engagement with the arts in secondary schools.

The Government believes in a high quality education for all pupils and cultural education, including the wider arts, music, and creative subjects, is integral to this. All state funded schools are required to teach a broad and balanced curriculum. This includes promoting pupils' cultural development.

The Department published the Model Music Curriculum in 2021 and a refreshed National Plan for Music Education in 2022 to support teachers in delivering high quality music education. The Department will publish a Cultural Education Plan in 2023 to support arts and heritage, working with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England. This will include how best to support young people who wish to pursue careers in the creative and cultural industries.

The Department will continue to spend around £115 million per annum in cultural education over three years, through music, arts, and heritage programmes.

With the real terms per pupil increases to core school funding and the nearly £5 billion that has been announced for education recovery, schools will continue to have the flexibility to deliver a broad and ambitious curriculum and enrichment activities, including in arts and creative subjects.

With the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s education, the Department’s priorities have been to focus on education recovery in the recent Spending Review. The Government remains committed to the ambitions for a Cultural Education Plan and will give consideration for a future arts premium in due course.