Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Fiona Mactaggart
Thursday 26th February 2015

(9 years, 4 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Fiona Mactaggart Portrait Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)
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5. What steps he plans to take to ensure that children learn about or experience the creative arts.

Lord Vaizey of Didcot Portrait The Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy (Mr Edward Vaizey)
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It is wonderful to have a question from the hon. Lady. For one terrible moment I thought she might not be here, but I am so pleased to see that she has arrived in time to hear me answer that we believe strongly that children should have every opportunity to learn about and experience the arts. At the beginning of this year, we announced another £109 million for music and cultural education. That takes the amount we have invested in music and cultural education to £400 million in this Parliament.

Fiona Mactaggart Portrait Fiona Mactaggart
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Perhaps the Minister would like to have a conversation with his friend the Mayor of London about the state of traffic in south London this morning.

Why has the number of children who experience the creative arts, except for film, declined every year that the hon. Gentleman has been responsible for this field? Why has the number of children studying art, drama and dance—creative subjects—at GCSE fallen so radically while he has been in charge?

Lord Vaizey of Didcot Portrait Mr Vaizey
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At the very last Department for Culture, Media and Sport questions of this Parliament, every one of which I have attended, I think the hon. Lady makes a slightly snippy point, particularly as the Taking Part survey shows that participation by children has increased for those aged between five and 10 and stayed at the very high level of 99.4% for those aged 11 to 15. There has been an 8% increase in those taking arts GCSE subjects since 2010 and participation in music, dance, art and design continues.

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Fiona Mactaggart Portrait Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)
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T4. Earlier, the Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy dodged his way around the figures that I cited from the Warwick report about the drastic decline in children’s experience and learning in creative subjects. Perhaps he will respond more positively to another of its recommendations, which is that every publicly funded organisation that deals with cataloguing and archives on the net should be encouraged to use the same mechanisms for the cataloguing of GLAM—galleries, libraries, museums and archives—so that the archives can be more easily accessed and searched by everyone.

Lord Vaizey of Didcot Portrait Mr Vaizey
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I was obviously premature in my last answer, Mr Speaker.

I have a lot of sympathy with that recommendation. Putting museum and archive content online and making it easily accessible to both teachers for their lesson plans and students for their learning is an important issue. I will have a number of meetings in the coming weeks to discuss some ideas about it.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Fiona Mactaggart
Thursday 27th November 2014

(9 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Fiona Mactaggart Portrait Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)
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15. What recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of children’s access to the creative arts; and if he will make a statement.

Lord Vaizey of Didcot Portrait The Minister for Culture and the Digital Economy (Mr Edward Vaizey)
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Between 2012 and 2015, we are going to invest £15 million in cultural education and we are investing hundreds of millions of pounds in music education.

Fiona Mactaggart Portrait Fiona Mactaggart
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Yet his own Department’s survey shows that a third of secondary boys and a fifth of secondary girls do not access arts activities outside schools. In a recent speech the Secretary of State for Education said that arts were not the basis for a successful career, yet the creative industries provide 6% of our national wealth. What is the Minister doing to increase children’s access to arts beyond school?

Lord Vaizey of Didcot Portrait Mr Vaizey
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The Secretary of State for Education was not saying that. She was simply making the point that a lot of people said that doing a maths or science degree narrowed children’s career opportunities. She was correcting that impression; it was not an either/or. Both channels are good ways to get wonderful career opportunities after leaving school.

We are working with Into Film, providing film education for hundreds of thousands of children. We are working with English Heritage on the new heritage schools initiative, which has massively increased engagement with heritage already. We are funding the Sorrell Saturday clubs, and we are working with the Arts Council on arts awards and the pioneering Artsbox.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Fiona Mactaggart
Thursday 22nd November 2012

(11 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Vaizey of Didcot Portrait Mr Vaizey
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As I understand it, mitigating the impact of the wind farm is the responsibility of its operator, which is now communicating with residents and providing solutions, such as moving aerials so that they can pick up signals from the alternative transmitter. As he correctly says, interference is not caused by 4G, because of course the 4G that could interfere with digital televisions signals has not yet been deployed.

Fiona Mactaggart Portrait Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)
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9. If she will take steps to accelerate the repayment of moneys taken from lottery good causes funds to support the London 2012 Olympic games; and if she will make a statement.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Fiona Mactaggart
Thursday 3rd March 2011

(13 years, 3 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Vaizey of Didcot Portrait Mr Vaizey
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I hear what my hon. Friend says and I commend him on his work, particularly with the Croydon Art Society. I know that the London director of the Arts Council met the director of culture in Croydon in January, but I am sure that my hon. Friend will understand that the arms-length principle means that Ministers cannot interfere in the Arts Council’s funding decisions.

Fiona Mactaggart Portrait Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)
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I went to an event that was sponsored by a number of organisations funded by the Arts Council in London, where I saw the work of a group of young people who, through the future jobs fund, were apprenticing themselves to organisations such as the Royal Opera House and other cultural bodies in London. They are coming to present what they have learned through their experience to the House of Commons in a couple of weeks and I wondered whether the Minister would come and listen to them along with the Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, who has already accepted my invitation.

Lord Vaizey of Didcot Portrait Mr Vaizey
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If I am free, I will certainly do that.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Lord Vaizey of Didcot and Fiona Mactaggart
Monday 26th July 2010

(13 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Lord Vaizey of Didcot Portrait Mr Vaizey
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Forgive me, Mr Speaker, but I am not quite sure what point the hon. Gentleman is making. It is a coalition Government commitment that the National Audit Office should have full access to the BBC’s accounts by November 2011 in order to ensure value for money and public accountability.

Fiona Mactaggart Portrait Fiona Mactaggart (Slough) (Lab)
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10. What plans he has for the future of Creative Partnerships.

Lord Vaizey of Didcot Portrait The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport (Mr Edward Vaizey)
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Creative Partnerships is funded by Arts Council England and as such, decisions on its future are a matter between that and Creativity, Culture and Education.

Fiona Mactaggart Portrait Fiona Mactaggart
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The Minister does not sound as enthusiastic as the teachers and head teachers in my constituency are about this wonderful programme. Can he do more to publicise the achievements of Creative Partnerships? The case report that his Department semi-released a week ago without any real promotion concluded not only that Creative Partnerships improves learning and achievement, but that through research, it improves the capacity of creativity to do more to help children to learn.

Lord Vaizey of Didcot Portrait Mr Vaizey
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As the hon. Lady may know, I am a passionate supporter of both music and cultural education in the round. We could do more to make such programmes more coherent, so that they work in a more joined-up fashion, but as I said, the future of Creative Partnerships and how it works is very much a matter between it and Arts Council England.