Higher Education: Arts
(asked on 14th September 2021) - View Source
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the (a) level of reduction in funding for Higher Education arts subjects in England and (b) potential effect of that change in funding on the future (i) accessibility and (ii) viability of cultural and creative sectors.
In January 2021, the former Secretary of State for Education (Gavin Williamson), my right hon. Friend for South Staffordshire, asked the Office for Students (OfS) to reform the Strategic Priorities Grant for the 2021-22 academic year[1].
The OfS consulted on the proposals and has recently published its conclusions. Following careful consideration of the issues raised in consultation responses, the former Secretary of State for Education issued Terms and Conditions of funding to the OfS (in relation to London Weighting and high-cost subject funding) to ensure the government’s priorities for the grant were implemented this year.
For the 2021-22 academic year, the high-cost subject funding rate for arts and music courses has been set at £121.50 – this is equivalent to a reduction of around 1% in combined funding (on a per-student basis) from a £9,250 tuition fee and OfS grant funding compared to 2020-21. Total funding for high-cost subjects, such as medicine and engineering, is 12% higher than last year, an increase of £81 million[2].
The government continues to value performing arts and creative subjects. High quality provision in a range of subjects is critical for our workforce and our public services, as well as being intellectually rewarding and culturally enriching for those studying them and wider society.
As part of the same reform programme, we asked the OfS to invest an additional £10 million in our world-leading specialist providers, many of which specialise in arts provision. We want to ensure that such providers receive additional support, and that grant funding is used effectively to support students, including those with an interest in the cultural and creative sectors.
The government supports the arts throughout the education system. For example, the government has invested nearly £620 million during 2016-21 in a diverse portfolio of music and cultural education programmes to ensure all school children, whatever their background, have access to a high-quality education in music and arts[3].
[2] https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/media/b2eaeeb4-7fed-4eda-9868-a4671f170129/recurrent-funding-2021-22.pdf Table 2: Recurrent grant budgets for academic year 2021-22 (£ millions).
[3] https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2021-09-06/43435.