Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential effect of the introduction of the Ebac on the take-up of creative subjects by pupils.

This Government’s aim is to have at least 90% of pupils taking GCSEs from the English Baccalaureate subjects of English, maths, science, humanities and languages.

These subjects are part of a broad and balanced curriculum. The EBacc has been designed to be limited in its size in order to provide a rigorous academic core whilst leaving space in the curriculum for pupils to study other subjects of their choice, including creative subjects. A good foundation in the EBacc subjects will help students keep their options open for work and further study.

On 3 November 2015 the Secretary of State for Education launched a public consultation seeking views on the government’s proposals for the implementation of the English Baccalaureate[1]. The consultation closed on 29 January 2016 and the government response will be published in the spring.

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/implementing-the-english-baccalaureate