Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to promote the creative curriculum in primary schools; and if she will make a statement.

We recognise that the arts form an integral part of a child’s education and believe strongly that every child should experience a high-quality arts and cultural education throughout their time at school.

Music, and art and design are statutory subjects in the national curriculum and must be studied by all pupils in maintained primary schools from the age of five.

In addition, for 2012-16, we have allocated over £470 million to a diverse range of music and arts education programmes that are designed to improve access to the arts and culture for all children, regardless of their background, and to develop talent across the country.

These programmes include support for 123 music education hubs, which are charged with ensuring that every child sings and learns to play a musical instrument, the Shakespeare Schools Festival, and programmes designed to encourage more primary school pupils to visit museums and to understand their local heritage.