Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effect of the English Baccalaureate on access to creative subjects.

The Government is clear that the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) should be studied as part of a broad and balanced curriculum. It is limited in size in order to allow pupils to continue to study additional subjects that reflect their individual interests and strengths, including arts subjects. The proportion of pupils taking at least one Arts GCSE has fluctuated but remained broadly stable since the EBacc was introduced in 2010

Arts subjects are not limited to the classroom, and according to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s Taking Part Survey, in 2017-18, 96% of children aged 5-15 had engaged with the arts in the past 12 months[1]. The government is providing almost £500 million of funding between 2016-20 for arts and cultural education programmes.

[1] The arts cover music activities, theatre/drama, reading/writing, arts crafts and design, film, video, media, and radio activities, dance activities, street arts, circus, carnival, and festival activities.