Children: Musical Instruments
(asked on 10th June 2019) - View Source
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the number and proportion of children in (a) primary and (b) post-primary schools in (i) St Helens, (ii) Merseyside, (iii) the North West and (iv) England and Wales that play musical instruments.
The Government’s music hub programme, which has been in place in England since 2012/13, is intended to ensure all children have access to a high-quality music education, including learning to play musical instruments and having the opportunity to play and sing in ensembles.
A breakdown of core funding allocations for the areas requested is provided in the tables below.
| 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 |
St Helens Music Hub | £152,637 | £196,771 | £198,850 | £258,548 |
Merseyside (excluding Wirral) | £1,155,039 | £1,409,227 | £1,186,226 | £1,534,658 |
North West | £7,160,329 | £8,970,650 | £8,069,841 | £10,402,339 |
England | £50,014,480 | £62,628,293 | £58,187,226 | £75,000,000 |
| 2016/17 | 2017/18 | 2018/19 | 2019/20 |
St Helens Music Hub | £255,889 | £252,312 | £254,068 | £255,072 |
Merseyside (excluding Wirral) | £1,520,913 | £1,510,038 | £1,517,280 | £1,526,954 |
North West | £10,405,255 | £10,395,497 | £10,474,949 | £10,560,167 |
England | £75,000,000 | £75,000,000 | £75,490,000 | £75,840,004 |
The information requested is not held centrally regarding the total number or proportion of children who learn to play musical instruments at school. However, music is compulsory in the national curriculum for 5-14 year old pupils, and the national curriculum programmes of study say that children should have the opportunity to learn an instrument in Key Stages 1, 2 and 3.
The music education hubs do record the number of pupils receiving individual or group lessons through the hub lead organisation or hub partners. Figures for the areas requested, based on the Department’s latest published music education hub data report in 2016/17 and broken down by level of study rather than age group, are included below.
| Entry | Foundation | Intermediate | Advanced | Total |
St Helens Music Hub | 3,154 | 881 | 122 | 55 | 4,212 |
Merseyside (excl. Wirral) | 28,143 | 3,892 | 816 | 337 | 33,188 |
North West | 118,537 | 26,958 | 3,933 | 1,407 | 150,835 |
England | 885,798 | 210,898 | 43,882 | 19,840 | 1,160,108 |
The music hubs programme is only funded by the Department for Education in England. The figures provided for Merseyside do not include the Wirral because the area is covered by the Musical Routes Hub, which also covers Cheshire West and Chester.