Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what financial support they provide to state-funded schools to assist with copyright licensing costs and to ensure compliance with intellectual property regulations regarding printed music teaching materials.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

High-quality music education must not be for the privileged few but an entitlement for all. It is an essential part of the broad and rich education every child deserves. It is a decision for schools which resources they want to purchase and use to support them to teach the national and wider school curriculum, including musical scores and texts.

The department buys copyright licences for all state-funded schools in England covering almost all their copyright requirements. Funding for this comes from the Core Schools Budget.

Purchasing these licences directly saves schools money and administrative time, while ensuring that intellectual property rights are respected.

The department appreciates the importance of educational licences to the music publishing sector and negotiate with Copyright Management Organisations to obtain licences for an appropriate range of content and usage at a fair and transparent cost.

Guidance and advice for state schools in England on copyright licences is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/copyright-licences-information-for-schools.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what mechanisms they have in place to ensure that all state-funded schools have universal access to the musical scores and texts required to support the delivery of the national curriculum for music.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

High-quality music education must not be for the privileged few but an entitlement for all. It is an essential part of the broad and rich education every child deserves. It is a decision for schools which resources they want to purchase and use to support them to teach the national and wider school curriculum, including musical scores and texts.

The department buys copyright licences for all state-funded schools in England covering almost all their copyright requirements. Funding for this comes from the Core Schools Budget.

Purchasing these licences directly saves schools money and administrative time, while ensuring that intellectual property rights are respected.

The department appreciates the importance of educational licences to the music publishing sector and negotiate with Copyright Management Organisations to obtain licences for an appropriate range of content and usage at a fair and transparent cost.

Guidance and advice for state schools in England on copyright licences is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/copyright-licences-information-for-schools.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the importance of educational licensing agreements to the financial sustainability of the UK music publishing sector; and what steps they are taking to ensure that the use of copyright material in education continues to provide fair remuneration to rights holders.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

High-quality music education must not be for the privileged few but an entitlement for all. It is an essential part of the broad and rich education every child deserves. It is a decision for schools which resources they want to purchase and use to support them to teach the national and wider school curriculum, including musical scores and texts.

The department buys copyright licences for all state-funded schools in England covering almost all their copyright requirements. Funding for this comes from the Core Schools Budget.

Purchasing these licences directly saves schools money and administrative time, while ensuring that intellectual property rights are respected.

The department appreciates the importance of educational licences to the music publishing sector and negotiate with Copyright Management Organisations to obtain licences for an appropriate range of content and usage at a fair and transparent cost.

Guidance and advice for state schools in England on copyright licences is available here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/copyright-licences-information-for-schools.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Independent Society of Musicians, Brave New World? Justice for creators in the age of Gen AI, published on 30 January; and whether they have made an assessment of the impact of AI on the creative economy and employment opportunities.

Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

We are aware of the “Brave New World?” report. Officials have read this and engaged with its findings as we ensure our proposals are evidence-led and tested with industry and experts. Our creative industries are one of this country’s greatest economic and cultural strengths and we are determined that they continue to thrive. We want to support rightsholders in licensing their work in the digital age and allow AI developers to benefit from access to high-quality material in the United Kingdom. The right approach here will unlock new opportunities for innovation across the whole economy.

By March 18 2026, we will publish a full economic impact assessment on AI and the creative economy.

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