Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to (a) protect the availability of arts and creative subjects and (b) remove barriers to pupils studying them.

The Government believes all pupils should have a high quality, well rounded education and that arts subjects are central to this.

The new National Curriculum, introduced in 2014, sets out the essential knowledge in the key subjects that schools should teach. In Key Stages 1 to 3, music and art and design are statutory subjects for maintained schools. At Key Stage 4, all pupils in maintained schools must be offered the opportunity to study at least one subject in the arts ‘entitlement’ area, which includes art and design, music, dance, drama, and media arts.

Beyond the curriculum, we are investing £300 million of ring fenced funding in music hubs in 2016-20. This is intended to ensure all pupils benefit from a high quality music education, including learning to play musical instruments and having the opportunity to play and sing in ensembles.