National Centre for Arts and Music Education

Lord Addington Excerpts

Wednesday 23rd April 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

I thank the noble Baroness. She will know, from my personal interest and involvement with the dance sector, that I know that it feels that it needs to have a louder voice; she has quite ably established that that is the case. Dance is one of those areas linked with PE. There is probably a whole raft of reasons why that has been the case, but I know that it is an area of active consideration as to how we broaden this out and give dance the status that it feels that it does not have at this time.

[Lord Addington (LD)]

Can the Minister tell us what the Government are doing to work with voluntary and community groups, where most people will actually take part in musical or cultural activity? What structure has been set up between DCMS and the Department for Education to ensure this happens? Things such as this tend to fall between the cracks.

[Baroness Blake of Leeds (Lab)]

The really important part about the consultation for the centre is partnerships and how, through them, we can bring together all the partners around the music hubs that exist and make sure they are consistent across the country—I think the noble Lord is well aware of that issue. Of course, DCMS and DfE work very closely together on this. We need the voluntary sector to work in partnership with local authorities, government departments and the private sector to make sure that all children can get the very best possible outcomes from the process.