Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students in each region of England learned an instrument at school in each of the last six years.

All 5-14 year old children in maintained schools should be taught to play a musical instrument as part of the National Curriculum.

The tables in the attachment show how many children were taught to play musical instruments through the music education hubs in each region in 2012/13, 2013/14 and 2014/15.

The Department does not hold information about the number of people who took Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) exams. The tables below have been taken from ABRSM’s website and show the number of people who took practical graded music exams in the UK and Ireland in 2013 and 2014. Further information on additional years may be available on request from ABRSM.