Music Education: State Schools

Baroness Blake of Leeds Excerpts

Tuesday 24th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness in Waiting/Government Whip (Baroness Blake of Leeds) (Lab)]

My Lords, I thank everyone in the Chamber for such a rich debate, especially given the time pressures that we are all facing. I thank my noble friend Lady Keeley for opening this valuable debate. She is such a great advocate for music education, and I think we should all be very grateful to her. Many noble Lords have considerable expertise and experience in this area, and it has been my privilege to talk to many of them over the last few months.

I start by thanking my noble friend Lady Debbonaire for her tremendous maiden speech. I am delighted that she was able to make a contribution in her maiden speech to this debate on the importance of the quality and quantity of music education in schools. I know that this is a subject dear to her heart. As we have heard, she will continue to make a valuable contribution to this House, and we can all look forward to it. I particularly echo her sentiment that we all need to be fighting for the whole ecosystem. What a powerful contribution. I also thank the noble Viscount, Lord Stansgate, for his very warm words and acknowledgement of his family connection to this subject.

This Government are clear: music education must not be the preserve of the privileged few. I assure the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, that as part of our opportunity mission, we want to widen access to the arts, including music, so that young people can develop their creativity and find their voice. This is important in its own right. As the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley, said, creative exploration is a critical part of a rich education. It helps young people to find opportunities and it powers growth in the creative industries, while raising self-esteem and resilience and contributing to young people’s well-being, as so many noble Lords have said.

Participation in the arts can bring wider benefits for children and young people. We have heard about the connection to maths, but there are outcomes in other curricular areas as well, as picked up by my noble friend Lady Ramsey and the noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft. I have mentioned before that I saw this first hand with Opera North’s project “In Harmony”, delivered in the most deprived schools in Leeds, with every child learning a stringed instrument. The impact on their maths attainment was incredible. We must all look at these examples, and I reassure my noble friend Lady Ritchie that we must look across the UK and at all the different voluntary groups that can be involved. As my noble friend Lady Keeley mentioned, many other organisations, such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, are making sure that high deprivation is targeted, enormously benefiting those young people.

I assure the noble Baroness, Lady Fleet, that, as I have said before in this Chamber, the work done under the national plan is not lost and is being used. This work will be integrated moving forward, and I thank her and the noble Baroness, Lady Bull, for their contributions. As part of our plan for change, we are committed to ensuring that arts and culture thrives in every part of the country, with more opportunities for people to engage in and benefit from work in the arts and culture where they live. The Government have announced over £270 million of investment in our arts venues, museums, libraries and heritage sector, made up of multiple funds including an £85 million creative foundations fund, to name just one. We are continuing the generous tax reliefs.

Turning to lack of government action on touring, for example, at least this Government have had a meeting with our EU counterparts. Those discussions are part of the European Union reset, and we look forward to the outcome of those talks. As per the commitment in Labour’s Creating Growth plan, DCMS is undertaking a review, documenting current and past funding for the arts, culture and heritage sector, as referenced by the noble Lord, Lord Berkeley.

The noble Earl, Lord Clancarty, raised pertinent points. We have discussed these measures a great deal, but I point to the independent review undertaken by Arts Council England. It will examine whether the regions have access to high-quality arts and culture, and whether everyone is able to participate in and absorb culture and creativity regardless of their background.

We want every child, regardless of background, to have a rich, broad, inclusive, innovative curriculum that includes creative subjects such as music. That is why the independent review, chaired by Professor Becky Francis, is looking at all subjects, including music, and seeking to deliver a curriculum that prepares young people for life and work, including in creative subjects and skills. It is being informed by evidence and data, in close consultation with educational professionals. That there have been more than 7,000 responses to the public call for evidence perhaps explains why it will take some time to pull that together, but we are expecting a final report in the autumn, along with the Government’s response.

We will consider the associated implications for accountability measures such as EBacc and Progress 8, mentioned by my noble friend Lady Keeley, and look at teacher time and all the wider implications that the review has been charged with bringing in. We are legislating so that, following the review and implementation of reforms, academies will be required to teach the reformed national curriculum alongside maintained schools. This will give parents certainty over their children’s education. Also, academies will be able to adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of their pupils. I was very interested in the example of Blackpool versus Hertfordshire. As an aside, my nephew is a peripatetic music teacher at Hertfordshire.

I can assure the noble Lord, Lord Freyberg, that reorganisation will not create additional workloads for music hubs. Responding to the noble Baroness, Lady Fleet, music hubs play a vital role in communities across England, supporting children and young people and providing opportunities for them to progress. We have heard about the range of services on offer, and the Government continue to support this crucial programme. Music hubs grant funding of £76 million has been secured, and longer-term funding will be confirmed in due course. To widen access to musical instruments, the Government are investing £25 million in capital funding for instruments, equipment and technology.

We heard about the music and dance scheme from the noble Lord, Lord Kirkham, and we absolutely recognise the importance of specialist training. That is why the Government continue to provide generous support to help students access specialist music, committing £35 million over the next academic year. The details of that have been well profiled. This important scheme provides means-tested bursaries and grants, again making sure that young people do not miss out.

There are so many areas to cover on government support for the arts, which was raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Fleet, and the noble Lord, Lord Shipley. We have not mentioned the Government’s announced investment of over £270 million in venues in the plan for change, ensuring that arts and culture thrive in every part of the country. Generous tax reliefs also provide £3 million to expand the creative careers programme; it is critical that young people get to realise their ambition.

There has been much comment on high-quality teaching, which is fundamental and will make the biggest difference to children’s outcomes. That is why the Government’s plan for change is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across the sector. We are also offering a teacher training incentive package worth £233 million, which is a £37 million increase on the last cycle and includes a £10,000 tax-free bursary. We are seeing positive signs and an increase in initial teacher training numbers. They are going up, but there is still much more to do.

As the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, mentioned, we need to showcase good practice, and I believe that the national centre for arts and music education will enable us to do just that. That is why in March we announced our intention to launch the new centre, offering excellent arts education and building on existing support for music education.

The music opportunities pilot targets disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. We are investing £2 million to support it over a four-year period. It is delivered by Young Sounds UK in 12 areas of the country.

This has been a rich debate, and I know that this will continue to be a subject of much interest. I pay tribute to the noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Harries, for his contribution. The department is providing a grant of over £210,000 to the Choir Schools’ Association, recognising its choir schools scholarship programme offering means-tested support to choristers attending different schools.

I apologise for the whistle-stop tour through this. I have 30 seconds left to finish the debate, and it has been a pleasure to be here. In closing, I underline this Government’s commitment to ensuring that all children can access and engage with high-quality music education in and through their schools and leading into their careers. Creative subjects such as music are a vital part of a rich, broad school experience and to our economic success. As I said when I started, we must all work together to make sure that they are not the preserve of a privileged few.