Music Teachers: Recruitment

Lord Forbes of Newcastle Excerpts

Monday 20th July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

The noble Lord is absolutely right. Schools provide children who cannot access it through private means the opportunity to benefit from music and instrumental education. Through the national enrichment framework that the Government recently published, we will make sure there are more opportunities in the school day for children to take part in music and learn instruments.

[Lord Forbes of Newcastle (Lab)]

My Lords, the Government have introduced extremely welcome tax relief for orchestras, theatres, museums and galleries, but the outreach they undertake is not eligible for that tax relief, despite it being a potentially significant source of support for music education in schools. Given that the extension of tax reliefs is being discussed at the moment, will my noble friend the Minister consider discussing with colleagues extending the scope of that tax relief so that every child in every postcode has the opportunity to learn music?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

Tax reliefs are of course the purview of the Treasury and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. I am sure the Chancellor—whoever they might be—will be listening very carefully to my noble friend’s argument about how we can encourage as much participation in music as possible.