Asked by: Nadia Whittome (Labour - Nottingham East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure every (a) primary and (b) secondary pupil in England can visit the theatre at least once in their school career.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
All state-funded schools should teach a broad and balanced curriculum that promotes pupils' cultural development. The best schools combine creative subjects with core subjects, and the department is committed to ensuring that all pupils have access to both.
Cultural education is therefore integral to a high-quality education. Alongside drama as part of the English curriculum and dance as part of the physical education curriculum, music and art and design, remain important pillars of the knowledge-rich National Curriculum.
Drama is not an individual subject within the English National Curriculum, but it is an important part of a pupil’s school experience. The main introduction of drama to the primary programmes of study details the type of drama opportunities pupils should be given and acknowledges the artistic practice of drama. Teachers will use their professional judgement as to how and when such opportunities are created.
On 10 February 2017, the department announced an update to the content for the GCSE in drama and the A level in drama and theatre studies to specify that all pupils will now have the entitlement to experience live theatre, reaffirming the government’s commitment to providing pupils with an enriching arts education.
A parent’s income should not be a barrier to a pupil participating in a school trip. Schools may not charge for school trips that take place during school hours, or which take place outside school hours but are part of the National Curriculum, part of religious education, or part of the syllabus for a public exam that the pupil is being prepared for at the school. Parents can be asked for contributions towards the cost of a trip, but schools must make clear that contributions are voluntary. The published advice, ‘Charging for School Activities’, is clear that no pupil should be excluded from an activity simply because their parents are unwilling or unable to pay. The advice can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/706830/Charging_for_school_activities.pdf.
Finally, pupil premium funding will rise to over £2.9 billion in the 2024/25 academic year. The increase will ensure that this targeted funding continues to help schools to support the educational outcomes of disadvantaged pupils. As set out in the menu of approaches, schools are able to use pupil premium to fund extracurricular activities, including school trips to theatres.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what proportion of state-funded secondary schools had their own music performance facilities in (a) 2010, (b) 2015, (c) 2019 and (d) 2022.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Arts Council England is leading the Music Hubs investment programme at the invitation of the department. As the programme is ongoing, information about the number of applications is commercially sensitive so cannot be published. The plan is for applicants to be informed of the outcome of the investment programme by April 2024, although they will be informed earlier if this is possible.
In relation to music performance facilities in secondary schools, the department does not collect this information. The National Plan for Music Education, published in June 2022, sets out the department’s strategy to 2030 and maintains the government’s commitment to high quality music education for all. Starting in September 2023, all state-funded schools are asked to teach music to 5- to 14-year-olds for at least an hour a week each term, supported by co-curricular learning and musical experiences. It is for schools to decide what facilities are required to meet this expectation, including the specific expectation in the Plan in relation to space for rehearsals and individual practice.
In relation to the Cultural Education Plan, the department has been working closely with the Department for Media, Culture and Sport, and has conducted extensive engagement with external stakeholders across the education and cultural sectors and appointed an Expert Advisory Panel in July 2023. Both the Panel and the stakeholder engagement are helping to inform the development of the Plan and its emerging proposals. The department will publish the Cultural Education Plan in the coming months.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department’s planned timescale for launching its Cultural Education Plan is.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Arts Council England is leading the Music Hubs investment programme at the invitation of the department. As the programme is ongoing, information about the number of applications is commercially sensitive so cannot be published. The plan is for applicants to be informed of the outcome of the investment programme by April 2024, although they will be informed earlier if this is possible.
In relation to music performance facilities in secondary schools, the department does not collect this information. The National Plan for Music Education, published in June 2022, sets out the department’s strategy to 2030 and maintains the government’s commitment to high quality music education for all. Starting in September 2023, all state-funded schools are asked to teach music to 5- to 14-year-olds for at least an hour a week each term, supported by co-curricular learning and musical experiences. It is for schools to decide what facilities are required to meet this expectation, including the specific expectation in the Plan in relation to space for rehearsals and individual practice.
In relation to the Cultural Education Plan, the department has been working closely with the Department for Media, Culture and Sport, and has conducted extensive engagement with external stakeholders across the education and cultural sectors and appointed an Expert Advisory Panel in July 2023. Both the Panel and the stakeholder engagement are helping to inform the development of the Plan and its emerging proposals. The department will publish the Cultural Education Plan in the coming months.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many applications have been received for funding from the music hub investment programme (a) in total and (b) in each geographic area as of 22 November 2023.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Arts Council England is leading the Music Hubs investment programme at the invitation of the department. As the programme is ongoing, information about the number of applications is commercially sensitive so cannot be published. The plan is for applicants to be informed of the outcome of the investment programme by April 2024, although they will be informed earlier if this is possible.
In relation to music performance facilities in secondary schools, the department does not collect this information. The National Plan for Music Education, published in June 2022, sets out the department’s strategy to 2030 and maintains the government’s commitment to high quality music education for all. Starting in September 2023, all state-funded schools are asked to teach music to 5- to 14-year-olds for at least an hour a week each term, supported by co-curricular learning and musical experiences. It is for schools to decide what facilities are required to meet this expectation, including the specific expectation in the Plan in relation to space for rehearsals and individual practice.
In relation to the Cultural Education Plan, the department has been working closely with the Department for Media, Culture and Sport, and has conducted extensive engagement with external stakeholders across the education and cultural sectors and appointed an Expert Advisory Panel in July 2023. Both the Panel and the stakeholder engagement are helping to inform the development of the Plan and its emerging proposals. The department will publish the Cultural Education Plan in the coming months.
Asked by: Barbara Keeley (Labour - Worsley and Eccles South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of contacting successful applicants to the Music Hub Investment Programme before April 2024.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Arts Council England is leading the Music Hubs investment programme at the invitation of the department. As the programme is ongoing, information about the number of applications is commercially sensitive so cannot be published. The plan is for applicants to be informed of the outcome of the investment programme by April 2024, although they will be informed earlier if this is possible.
In relation to music performance facilities in secondary schools, the department does not collect this information. The National Plan for Music Education, published in June 2022, sets out the department’s strategy to 2030 and maintains the government’s commitment to high quality music education for all. Starting in September 2023, all state-funded schools are asked to teach music to 5- to 14-year-olds for at least an hour a week each term, supported by co-curricular learning and musical experiences. It is for schools to decide what facilities are required to meet this expectation, including the specific expectation in the Plan in relation to space for rehearsals and individual practice.
In relation to the Cultural Education Plan, the department has been working closely with the Department for Media, Culture and Sport, and has conducted extensive engagement with external stakeholders across the education and cultural sectors and appointed an Expert Advisory Panel in July 2023. Both the Panel and the stakeholder engagement are helping to inform the development of the Plan and its emerging proposals. The department will publish the Cultural Education Plan in the coming months.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to increase pupil access to (a) sports and (b) arts opportunities out of school.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
Sport and physical activity are incredibly important for our physical and mental health and this government is committed to ensuring every child, no matter their background or ability, should be able to play sport and be active.
That is why in ‘Get Active: A strategy for the future of sport and physical activity’ we introduce an ambition that all children should meet the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines on physical activity, with a target of getting 1 million more active children by 2030.
Schools play a key role in allowing all children to have high quality opportunities to take part in PE and sport, setting them up for a lifetime of physical activity. In July we published an update to the School Sport and Activity Action Plan. This builds on the announcement we made in March that set out new ambitions for equal access to PE and sport, with guidance on how to deliver 2 hours of quality PE a week, alongside over £600 million funding for the Primary PE and Sport Premium and School Games Organiser network.
Outside of the school day, the £57 million Opening School Facilities programme will support the most inactive young people to access facilities that will enable them to play sport and take physical exercise. By opening school sport facilities, including swimming pools, disparities in access to opportunities seen between socio-economic groups will begin to be tackled through the programme.
Over the school holidays, the Government offers £200 million of support per year to the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which provides disadvantaged children in England with enriching activities (including physical and creative activities) and healthy meals. Last summer, the programme reached over 685,000 children and young people in England, including over 475,000 children in receipt of free school meals.
We are also investing over £300 million in grassroots football and multi-sport facilities across the UK by 2025 which will further support youth participation in sport.
The Government is additionally providing significant arts and cultural opportunities for young people both in and out of school.
This includes our creative careers promise, which is backed by £115m a year to increase young people’s access to cultural and music education. The upcoming Cultural Education Plan will support all children and young people to access a broad range of high-quality cultural and creative activities and experiences inside and outside of school. Our Enrichment Partnerships Pilot aims to improve the availability and quality of enrichment activities in up to 200 secondary schools within Education Investment Areas. In addition, 79% of the organisations in Arts Council England’s 2023-26 Investment Programme portfolio are delivering activity specifically for children and young people of all ages, wherever they live.
Separately, the Government funds a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes that are designed to improve participation in the arts for children. The National Saturday Club, for example, gives 13 to 16-year-olds across the country the opportunity to study the subjects they love for free, including arts and creative subjects, on a Saturday at their local university, college or cultural institution. Government and Arts Council England also co-fund 15 National Youth Music Organisations offering large-scale, inclusive performances, high-quality music programmes, residencies, summer schools and workshops, to help develop young people’s skills, experience, and knowledge of music, supporting them to excel as young creatives outside of school.
The National Plan for Music Education includes £25m funding for musical instruments and equipment for schools, and the Music Progression Fund supports disadvantaged pupils with music tuition. Furthermore, we have created four new Music Hub Centres of Excellence to improve inclusion and create pathways to industry for talented young people from all backgrounds.
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the proportion of (a) all children, (b) children educated in state schools and (c) children educated in private schools who have attended a live theatre performance by the end of (i) primary and (ii) secondary education.
Answered by David Johnston - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The Department does not collect data on the number or proportion of children who have attended live theatre by the end of primary and secondary education.
Arts subjects, including drama, are an important part of a pupil’s school experience, with drama forming part of the National Curriculum for English.
As set out in the programmes of study for Key Stages 1 to 3, pupils should gain knowledge, skills and understanding of the artistic practice of drama and should be able to adopt, create and sustain a range of roles. They should also have opportunities to improvise, devise and script drama for one another and a range of audiences, as well as to rehearse, refine, share and respond thoughtfully to drama and theatre performances. Teachers will use their professional judgement as to how and when such opportunities are created.
In addition, all pupils taking GCSE drama or an A level in drama and theatre studies are entitled to experience live theatre. This entitlement reaffirms the Government’s commitment to providing pupils with an enriching arts education. Pupils should not be limited to watching a DVD or a peer performance; they should have the opportunity to sit in the audience and experience a live performance.
Asked by: Robin Walker (Conservative - Worcester)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has set national targets for increasing musical (a) proficiency and (b) engagement.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Music is a statutory subject from ages 5 to 14 in the National Curriculum, and pupils have an entitlement to study at least one arts subject at Key Stage 4 in maintained schools. Although only maintained schools are required to teach the National Curriculum, academies are expected to teach a curriculum that is similar in breadth and ambition.
The Department has no plans to set national targets on musical proficiency and engagement. Schools have the autonomy to decide how best to teach music, setting expectations on good musical progression as part of their music curriculum, working with their local music hub as needed.
The Department has set out national expectations on high quality music education. This is reflected in the 2022 ‘national plan for music education’, which can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/music-education-information-for-parents-and-young-people/what-the-national-plan-for-music-education-means-for-children-and-young-people. National expectations are also reflected in the non-statutory ‘Model Music Curriculum’ 2021 guidance for schools. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teaching-music-in-schools. The Department has also committed to continue funding a range of music education programmes, including the national music hubs network and the Music and Dance Scheme.
The national plan for music education also sets out expectations from September 2023 for schools. It outlines that:
The Department’s national network of music hubs will continue to provide support to schools in England, supported by £79 million per annum funding for the music hubs programme up to 2025, and £25 million capital for new instruments.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding was allocated to art and design education at (a) primary and (b) secondary level in the 2022-2023 financial year.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government remains committed to ensuring that all pupils receive a high quality education in art and design as part of a broad and ambitious curriculum. This starts during the early years and continues in school, with art and design forming part of the National Curriculum from age 5 to 14. Between 2018/2019 and 2021/2022 academic years, around three in ten pupils in state funded schools have taken art and design GCSE and this has remained broadly stable.
All schools have the freedom to choose how to spend their core funding according to their own circumstances and priorities, providing that all expenditure ultimately benefits their students. The Department does not provide additional in year funding for art and design. It is for schools to decide the allocation of resources at an individual school level, including funding in art and design and other arts subjects.
Overall, core schools funding increased by £4 billion in the 2022/23 financial year which is a 7% increase in cash terms per pupil from the 2021/22 financial year. This included an increase in mainstream school funding for 5 to 16 year olds of £2.5 billion in the 2022/23 financial year, compared to the 2021/22 financial year. This is equivalent to an average 5.8% cash increase, or an average of £300 per pupil, with each Local Authority forecast to see at least a 4.8% increase per pupil.
Over and above core schools funding, the Department will continue to spend around £115 million per annum in cultural education over three years, through arts, music and heritage programmes. With the real terms per pupil increases to core school funding and the nearly £5 billion that has been announced for education recovery, schools will continue to have the flexibility to deliver a broad and ambitious curriculum and enrichment activities, including in arts subjects.
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. Economic disadvantage has an effect on outcomes and disadvantaged pupils and those with additional needs are more likely to fall behind and need extra support to reach their full potential. The Department therefore continues to provide support with pupils’ education across all subjects, including art and design, in promoting pupils’ cultural development.
The Government understands the pressures people are facing with the cost of living. Economic disadvantage has an effect on outcomes and disadvantaged pupils and those with additional needs are more likely to fall behind and need extra support to reach their full potential. The Department therefore continues to provide support with pupils’ education across all subjects, including art and design, in promoting pupil’s cultural development.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will introduce the arts premium outlined in the most recent Conservative Party manifesto.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
This government is committed to high quality education for all pupils, and integral to this are the arts and music.
The Autumn Statement announced additional investment of £2 billion in each of 2023/24 and 2024/25, over and above totals announced at the 2021 Spending Review.
This means funding for both mainstream schools and high needs is £3.5 billion higher in 2023/24, compared to 2022/23. That funding is on top of the £4 billion, year-on-year increase provided in 2022/23. In total, this represents an increase of £7.5 billion, or over 15%, in schools’ funding in just two years.
Arts education is integral to the school system and the department will also continue to invest around £115 million per annum in cultural education to 2025, through our music, arts and heritage programmes. Consideration for an Arts Premium will be given in due course.