Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that pupils in rural areas have the same access to musical education as those in urban areas.

This government believes that music is an important part of the well-rounded and enriching education that every child deserves, including those in rural areas. We will therefore give parents certainty over their children’s education, including music teaching.

Music is already included in the national curriculum for pupils aged 5 to 14 for maintained schools. The government is legislating so that academies will be required to teach the reformed national curriculum, following the outcomes of the independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, due to report in the autumn.

To support music education in schools, the government provides £76 million per year grant directly to 43 Music Hubs partnerships across England. Each Music Hub Local Plan has an inclusion strategy that should set out how to respond to barriers based on their geographic area, including location and socio-economic challenges.

On 18 March, the department announced our intention to launch a new National Centre for Arts and Music Education, to help meet the government's ambitions for improved and more equitable arts education, including music. The National Centre will become the national delivery partner for Music Hubs. It will also support schools in the delivery of high quality arts education in schools across England, in both rural and urban areas, including through online training, local partnership and better information for teachers, parents and young people.