Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the Government has to provide dance and drama as subject areas in their own right at primary schools as recommended by the independent review, Cultural Education in England, published in 2012.

There are no current plans to provide dance and drama as subject areas in their own right. Dance and drama are compulsory within the National Curriculum as part of the physical education (PE) and English programmes of study, respectively. My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has made a commitment to make no further significant changes to the curriculum or to qualifications, other than those already announced, during the remainder of this Parliament.

Through the Primary PE and sport premium, the Government has invested over £1 billion of ring fenced funding to primary schools to improve PE and sport since 2013. Schools can use this to provide dance activities if they wish. The Government is also piloting Youth Performance Partnerships pilots; new partnerships between arts organisations and schools to help children and young people take part in drama performance.