Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to enhance arts and culture in the national curriculum.

The department has announced a new National Centre for Arts and Music Education. The National Centre will promote arts education, including signposting to careers guidance and opportunities for children and young people to pursue their artistic and creative interests in school. It will drive excellent arts teaching through a new continuing professional development offer to schools and support partnerships between schools and cultural providers.

To complement the curriculum, the department will also work with experts to develop an Enrichment Framework to be published before the end of the year. This will identify the range of different enrichment activity that pupils should access and reflect best practice in supporting schools to plan a high-quality enrichment offer.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE.

The Review seeks to deliver a rich, broad, inclusive and innovative curriculum that equips young people with the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to thrive in life and work.

The Review Group has now published its interim findings and set out the next phase of work. The interim report can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-interim-report.

The government will respond to the Review’s final recommendations in the autumn.