Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on art and design learning.

The COVID-19 pandemic caused considerable disruption to the education of pupils. Helping them to recover from the pandemic is one of the Department’s main priorities.

The Department made almost £5 billion of funding available to support education recovery. Much of this funding is focused on those that need it most, including the most disadvantaged and those with the least time left in education, whilst giving schools and colleges as much flexibility as possible to tailor help to their own circumstances.

With the real terms, per pupil increases to core school funding and the nearly £5 billion of funding allotted to education recovery, schools will continue to have the flexibility to deliver a broad and ambitious curriculum and enrichment activities, including in art and design.

The Government remains committed to ensuring that all pupils continue to receive a high quality education in art and design as part of a broad and ambitious curriculum. Over the previous four years of the pandemic period between the 2018/19 and 2021/22 academic years, around three in ten pupils in state funded schools have taken Art and Design GCSE and this has remained broadly stable.