Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he is taking steps to enable every child to learn a musical instrument.

The government remains committed to continued support for music education. Following the Spending Review settlement, the department announced that it will continue to invest around £115 million per annum in cultural education through our music, arts, and heritage programmes, working closely with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the Arts Council England and others. As part of this funding, the department has committed £79 million for the 2022/23 financial year for music hubs.

Music hubs are groups of organisations, such as local authorities, schools, other hubs, art organisations, community, or voluntary organisations, that work together to create joined-up music education provision and provide specialist music education services to around 90% of state-funded schools. This includes whole class and group ensemble teaching, and individual instrument tuition.

Hubs also ensure that progression routes are clear and affordable, and some hubs provide instrument loans to children and young people to achieve this.

The government’s focus on high quality music education is also reflected in our commitment to refresh the National Plan for Music Education. The plan will be co-published alongside DCMS later this year.