Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what recent discussions his Department has had with the Educational Endowment Foundation on cultural education.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport alongside the Department for Education and Arts Council England have worked together to increase the opportunities and support for any young person who wants to get involved with the arts. Over this Parliament over £400m has been invested in music and cultural education.

The EEF, which was set up in 2011 through a £125m grant from the Government, is funding and evaluating a number of projects that have a cultural education dimension (for example, looking at the link between music instruction and academic attainment). The EEF/Sutton Trust teaching and learning toolkit also summarises evidence on the impact of pupil participation in artistic and creative extra-curricular activities on academic learning and other outcomes.