Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they consider the Music and Dance Scheme to have successfully enabled social mobility through arts education; and whether they intend to provide a full £4 million increase to the funding of the scheme recommended to reflect the costs of delivering specialist education.

The Music and Dance Scheme (MDS) remains central to providing access to specialist performing arts education for high achieving young musicians and dancers, through means-tested bursaries to attend one of eight private schools or one of 20 Centres for Advanced Training (CAT). For the 2024/25 academic year, this includes paying fees in full for 23% of MDS students attending schools and 57% of students attending CATs, for those from families on the lowest incomes.

The scheme will be allocated future funding of £37.8 million for the 2026/27 academic year. This is a £1.3 million increase to the funding this academic year. We will confirm future funding for the 2027/28 academic year before the end of this calendar year.