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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to improve access for children in (a) Blackpool South constituency and (b) other deprived communities to (i) music, (ii) film, (iii) dance and (iv) theatre.

Arts Council England funds a number of national music and cultural education programmes across the country which aim to reach those from deprived communities. Alongside this, in 2019, five new Youth Performance Partnerships were launched to provide new opportunities for young people from areas of low cultural engagement and high levels of deprivation to experience high quality performances and to develop practical skills both on and off stage (including dance, art, music, creative writing, lighting, sound, costume and set design). And, as announced in our election Manifesto, we will also offer an Arts Premium to secondary schools to fund enriching activities for all pupils.

In Blackpool, programmes such as Curious Minds have supported the development of an established Local Cultural Education Partnership now led by Blackpool Teaching Schools Alliance which plays an important role in developing strong provision for children in Blackpool. In addition, Into Film, a UK-wide body funded by the government through the BFI, encourages children to engage with film culture through after-school film clubs. There are 8000 across the UK, including 35 in the Blackpool South constituency. Last year, the BFI held two BFI Film Academy taster sessions in the Blackpool area to encourage young people to consider a career in the industry, and also ran a discounted ticket scheme for disadvantaged schools across the country.