Music: Education

(asked on 12th March 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2020 Question 7627, what plans he has to increase funding for the In Harmony music programme.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 17th March 2020

The Government recognises that music is an important subject and that all pupils should receive a high-quality music education. The subject is compulsory in the national curriculum up to age 14.

To support schools to deliver high quality music education for all their pupils, the Government has provided funding of over £300 million for music education hubs across England between 2016 and 2020. We have already announced funding of £85 million for music and arts education in 2020-21. This includes a further year of the music education hub programme, to help thousands more children learn to play musical instruments, and further funding for initiatives, including In Harmony, that support pupils from a range of backgrounds to learn about different styles of music.

The Government has confirmed that an arts premium will be provided to secondary schools to fund enriching activities for all pupils. Work is underway to develop the arts premium and we will be making further statements on this in due course.

The Department recently held a Call for Evidence on music education to inform our refresh of the National Plan for Music Education. We will be undertaking further work on this ahead of publication of the Plan in the autumn.

Funding beyond 2021 will be subject to the 2020 Spending Review.

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