Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that schools are able to offer children high quality music education through (a) the national curriculum and (b) in music education hubs.

Music is an essential part of supporting children and young people to develop creativity and find their voice. Music is in the national curriculum and is compulsory in all maintained schools in England from the age of 5 to 14 years. The national curriculum sets out the content of what the department expects schools to cover in each subject. The aims of the national curriculum for music include ensuring that all pupils perform music, learn to sing and to use their voices, have the opportunity to learn a musical instrument and understand and explore how music is created, produced and communicated.

The government has established an independent Curriculum and Assessment Review, covering ages 5 to 18, chaired by Professor Becky Francis CBE, which is looking at all subjects, including music. Any subject-specific findings and recommendations will be included in the Review’s final report in autumn. The government will consider any changes it wishes to make to the curriculum whilst the Review is conducted and respond to its recommendations when they are published. Following the review, all schools, including academies, will be required to teach the revised national curriculum.

On 18 March 2025, the department announced its intention to launch a National Centre for Arts and Music Education to promote opportunities for children and young people to pursue their artistic and creative interests in school, including through the government’s network of Music Hubs. Our intention is to launch in September 2026, with a delivery lead appointed through an open procurement.

To support the delivery of music education, the government has committed £79 million per year for the Music Hubs programme, including the 2024/25 academic year. The 43 Music Hubs partnerships across England offer a range of services, including musical instrument tuition, instrument loaning and whole-class ensemble teaching. To widen access to musical instruments, the government is investing £25 million in capital funding for musical instruments, equipment and technology from the 2024/25 academic year.

The government is also investing £2 million to support the Music Opportunities Pilot over a 4-year period across the 2024/25 to 2027/28 academic years, backed by a further £3.85 million funding from Arts Council England and Youth Music. This pilot aims to help disadvantaged children and young people, as well as those with special educational needs and disabilities, to learn how to play an instrument of their choice or learn to sing to a high standard.