National Centre for Arts and Music Education

Earl of Effingham Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

I know, from my experience of working with her over many years on the contribution of the creative industries to the economy and beyond, that my noble friend will continue to ensure that this is at the top of the agenda. I recognise the issues she raised, but at the moment we have a richness of reviews and plans coming together. We must ensure that all the key areas are talking to each other, taking full account of where we are now but also, as she quite rightly lays out, incorporating the potential of the tech sector and all the other areas to move forward and continue contributing to the economy of this country.

[The Earl of Effingham (Con)]

My Lords, the success of the hubs programme speaks for itself. We are talking about technology. The Prime Minister has clearly stated that his vision is to unleash AI across the UK. When will His Majesty’s Government reinstate the computing and science hubs, which were scrapped earlier this year? They saw the proportion of pupils receiving grade A or above in A-level computing rise by 35% and the number of people taking the subject almost double.

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

I thank the noble Earl for introducing this. I do not have the specific answers that he seeks. I am very happy to take this away and look at it in more detail. However, the most important thing is that all these areas are integrated across the piece, so that every aspect of work benefits from the skills that he has rightly raised to ensure that things are not put into a silo and that everyone can benefit.