Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to improve access to the arts for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

This Government has instigated two reviews into both music and cultural education by Darren Henley in order to improve access to arts and culture for all children including those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Between 2012-2016, the Government will spend over £400million on music and cultural education which includes the £109 million package of funding for arts and music education in 2015-16 that the Secretary of State for Education and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport announced today (26 January 2015). It also includes £19million for a programme of cultural education initiatives that has seen the creation of a National Youth Dance Company that supports talented young dancers from across the country regardless of their background, the In Harmony programme which inspires and transforms the lives of children through community-based orchestral music-making in areas of exceptional deprivation and the Museums and Schools programme that works to increase the number of people visiting regional and national museums in areas where take up has been traditionally low.