Business of the House

Barbara Keeley Excerpts

Thursday 13th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[Penny Mordaunt]

The hon. Gentleman raises a very important question. Although this is not necessarily the case for buses, many other capabilities and manufacturing capabilities should be should be sovereign capabilities. As he will know, that is absolutely what we do through the integrated review and other work that is done across many Departments. Of course, as well as cost and value, we want to ensure that whatever equipment is being purchased is resilient. That will be a factor, but the hon. Gentleman has put his concerns on record, and I hope his local authority is listening.

[Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab)]

Many arts organisations do impressive work in education outreach across the country. Examples include the brilliant create day run by the Royal Opera House, which engaged 2,000 students and teachers from Hounslow, Thurrock, Coventry and Doncaster; the excellent Music Makes Me initiative from the Tri-borough Music Hub, which involved 1,000 young people from three London boroughs performing at the Royal Albert Hall; and the Bath Philharmonia, which this week showcased in this House the great work it does with young carers. I know that theatre companies such as the Donmar Warehouse and the Royal Shakespeare Company also do brilliant education outreach work.

However, valuable as that work is, it is rapidly becoming a substitute for arts education in schools, and not all schools can benefit. Students from state-funded secondary schools have had their hours of arts education cut dramatically since 2010. Arts subjects such as music and drama are rapidly becoming the preserve of only those families that can afford to pay for them. As such, I ask the Leader of the House whether we can have a debate in Government time on the provision of arts education in state schools.

[Penny Mordaunt]

The hon. Lady raises a very important point, and the House has made its view known—many Members in the Chamber today support her. The UK is not just STEM-powered; it is STEAM-powered, and our arts and creative industries are vital to that. Of course, many of the organisations she has paid tribute to, from the Royal Opera House to the Royal Albert Hall, do incredible outreach work. To give a quick plug, the late Sir David Amess’s charity, the Music Man Project, will again be performing at the Royal Albert Hall next year, and I hope that many colleagues will go and listen to it. I will make sure that the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has heard the hon. Lady’s views, and she will have a chance to question her on these matters before the summer recess.