Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of the number of (a) performing arts teachers and (b) associated curriculum hours in schools and further and higher education institutions.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Information relating to ITT recruitment performance in England is published annually in the ITT census, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/initial-teacher-training-census/2022-23. In 2022/23, there were 329 postgraduate trainees who started an ITT course in drama, 301 in music, and 1,405 in physical education. Performance versus target in 2022/23 for drama was 113%, for music was 64%, and for physical education was 143%.
Information on the school workforce in England, including the number of subject teachers in state funded secondary schools, is collected each November as part of the annual school workforce census. Information is published in the ‘school workforce in England’ statistical publication, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england. Those who are designated as teachers of dance are included within the total for physical education/sports teachers.
As of November 2021, there were 8,976 teachers of drama, 7,003 teachers of music, and 23,708 teachers of physical education/sport at Key Stages 3, 4, and 5 in state funded secondary schools in England. In a typical week, they taught 85,003 hours of drama, 86,480 hours of music, and 290,033 hours of physical education/sport. Drama, music and physical education/sport teachers designate any teacher timetabled to teach the subject for any period in a typical week in November. These teachers do not necessarily have a specific post-A level qualification. This timetabling does not cover an entire year of teaching. If there are variations in timetabling across the year, this is not covered in the data available to the Department.
The Department does not hold data on the number of teachers who teach performing arts in further education institutions.
For 2022/23, the Department increased funding for world-leading specialist HE providers by an additional £5 million, from £53 million in 2021/22 to £58 million in 2022/23. This is on top of the increase of £10 million the Department provided in 2021/22. The Department wants to ensure that specialist institutions, many of which specialise in arts provision, receive additional support, and that grant funding is used to effectively support students.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of rises in the cost of living on the uptake of extracurricular performing arts classes in (a) primary, (b) secondary, (c) further and (d) higher education; and whether she is taking steps to increase engagement in the performing arts in (i) schools and (ii) other educational establishments.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All state funded schools are required to teach a broad and balanced curriculum, and this includes promoting pupils' cultural development. The performing arts are a core part of the school curriculum and also supported through extracurricular activities to children and young people.
The Department regularly asks about pupil participation in extracurricular performing arts activities in ‘parent, pupil and learner panel’ surveys. In the most recent published wave in which the questions were asked (the November wave from the 2022/23 academic year), 19% of pupils reported that they had participated in extracurricular performing arts activities in that term. The Department will continue to monitor the uptake of performing arts and other extracurricular activities, and investigate reasons for any significant changes or trends.
An additional £1.6 billion in funding has been made available for 16-19 education between the 2021/22 and 2024/25 academic years. This includes an up-front cash boost which will see the rate of funding per student increase by over 8% in 2022/23.
The Department recognises the additional cost of living pressures that have arisen this year which have affected university students. In addition to the cost of living measures already announced, the Department discusses cost of living pressures that are affecting students in its regular meetings with stakeholders, including the Office for Students (OfS), Universities UK and other HE representative groups. The Department also consulted with the National Association of Student Money Advisers to understand the ongoing situation in relation to increased requests from students for hardship awards from their universities.
The Department will continue to spend around £115 million per annum on cultural education over three years, through its music, arts 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 and creative subjects.
The Department will be publishing a Cultural Education Plan in 2023, working with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and Arts Council England. The Chair of the Expert Advisory Panel was announced last year, and other panel members will be announced in due course. The Plan will focus on how the Government can support access and participation in a wide range of arts subjects and activities, particularly for children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and in underrepresented groups. It will also further support young people who wish to pursue careers in the creative, cultural, and heritage industries.
In addition, the Department wants to ensure that HE specialist providers, many of which specialise in arts provision, receive additional support, and that grant funding is used to effectively support students.
On 8 December 2022, the OfS published the list of successful HE providers who have been identified as world-leading specialists by the Specialist Provider Panel. The current list of world-leading specialist providers includes 13 providers specialising in the arts. This funding will help improve the diversity and quality of creative education provision available to students.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the reasons for changes in the level of entries for GCSE and A Level qualifications in performing arts subjects in the last two years.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All state funded schools are required to teach a broad and balanced curriculum, and this includes promoting pupils' cultural development. A cultural education, including the wider performing arts, is central to providing a high quality education for all pupils.
The Department will continue to spend around £115 million per annum in cultural education over the next three years through its music, arts 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 an ambitious curriculum and enrichment activities, including in arts and creative subjects.
There are no plans to assess the reasons for changes in GCSE and A level entries. The Department does regularly publish entry statistics for GCSEs, A levels and technical awards. Over the past four years, the proportion of Key Stage 4 pupils in state funded schools taking at least one arts GCSE between 2018/19 and 2021/22 has gone from 44.5% to 42%. Over the same period the percentage taking at least one arts qualification (GCSE or technical award) has gone from 52.3% to 52.4%.
The Department will be publishing a Cultural Education Plan in 2023, working with DCMS and Arts Council England. The Chair of the expert advisory panel was announced last year, and other panel members will be announced in due course. The plan will focus on how the Government can support access and participation in a wide range of arts subjects and activities, particularly for children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and in underrepresented groups. It will also further support young people who wish to pursue careers in creative, cultural, and heritage industries.
The Cultural Education Plan will cover a range of arts subjects where appropriate, such as drama and dance. The Government does not intend to produce detailed plans in specific arts subjects, or to establish a Hub programme for arts subjects other than music. It is widely recognised that that there is a need for Music Hubs in addressing the unique challenges in supporting young people’s access to and progression in music.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will consider the potential merits of extending the music education hub model to (a) dance, (b) drama and (c) other performing arts.
Answered by Nick Gibb
All state funded schools are required to teach a broad and balanced curriculum, and this includes promoting pupils' cultural development. A cultural education, including the wider performing arts, is central to providing a high quality education for all pupils.
The Department will continue to spend around £115 million per annum in cultural education over the next three years through its music, arts 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 an ambitious curriculum and enrichment activities, including in arts and creative subjects.
There are no plans to assess the reasons for changes in GCSE and A level entries. The Department does regularly publish entry statistics for GCSEs, A levels and technical awards. Over the past four years, the proportion of Key Stage 4 pupils in state funded schools taking at least one arts GCSE between 2018/19 and 2021/22 has gone from 44.5% to 42%. Over the same period the percentage taking at least one arts qualification (GCSE or technical award) has gone from 52.3% to 52.4%.
The Department will be publishing a Cultural Education Plan in 2023, working with DCMS and Arts Council England. The Chair of the expert advisory panel was announced last year, and other panel members will be announced in due course. The plan will focus on how the Government can support access and participation in a wide range of arts subjects and activities, particularly for children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and in underrepresented groups. It will also further support young people who wish to pursue careers in creative, cultural, and heritage industries.
The Cultural Education Plan will cover a range of arts subjects where appropriate, such as drama and dance. The Government does not intend to produce detailed plans in specific arts subjects, or to establish a Hub programme for arts subjects other than music. It is widely recognised that that there is a need for Music Hubs in addressing the unique challenges in supporting young people’s access to and progression in music.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of girls aged (a) 11 to 14 and (b) 15 to 18 who have been taken into care with sexual exploitation and/or sexual violence assessed as a factor (i) in total in England and (ii) by local authority, in each year since 2018.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Information on the number of looked after children who have been taken into care as a result of sexual exploitation and/or sexual violence is not collected centrally by the department.
Information on the number of girls who have been referred to children’s services with child sexual exploitation and/or sexual abuse (which includes sexual violence) identified as a factor at the end of assessment is provided in the attached table.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of girls aged (a) 11 to 14 and (b) 15 to 18 who have been referred to children’s services with sexual exploitation and/or sexual violence assessed as a factor (i) in total in England and (ii) by local authority in England, in each year since 2018.
Answered by Vicky Ford
Information on the number of looked after children who have been taken into care as a result of sexual exploitation and/or sexual violence is not collected centrally by the department.
Information on the number of girls who have been referred to children’s services with child sexual exploitation and/or sexual abuse (which includes sexual violence) identified as a factor at the end of assessment is provided in the attached table.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department plans to publish a response to the Children Not In School consultation which closed on 24 June 2019.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department remains committed to a registration system for children not in school. We will set out further details on this in the Government response to the consultation, which we intend to publish in the coming months.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if his Department will issue guidance to schools on the planning and booking of domestic residential trips to take place after the 21 June 2021 subject to the lifting of covid-19 restrictions.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department will issue advice to schools and colleges on the planning and booking of residential trips when it is safe to do so and in line with the Government’s roadmap to recovery which is set out here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-spring-2021/covid-19-response-spring-2021.
The Department has no plans to provide schools with interim insurance or insurance cover for the cancellation of educational visits affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that access is provided to schools to obtain (a) interim insurance cover for educational visits beyond December 2021 and (b) insurance cover for educational visits affected by covid-19 outbreak related cancellations beyond December 2021.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department will issue advice to schools and colleges on the planning and booking of residential trips when it is safe to do so and in line with the Government’s roadmap to recovery which is set out here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-response-spring-2021/covid-19-response-spring-2021.
The Department has no plans to provide schools with interim insurance or insurance cover for the cancellation of educational visits affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Asked by: Anna McMorrin (Labour - Cardiff North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had on the timescale for the reintroduction of (a) domestic and (b) overseas school trips.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The department currently advises against any overseas, domestic or residential visits for children under 18 organised by schools. This advice will remain under review and will be updated in line with guidance from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Department for Transport and Public Health England.