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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department holds data on the number of community choirs there were in England in (a) 2003, (b) 2010, (c) 2013, (d) 2019 and (e) 2023.

The Department does not hold data on the numbers of music rehearsal spaces or on community choirs in England.

Estimates of the numbers of community choirs in England may be available from Arts Council England’s Investment Principles Support Organisation Making Music, which represents voluntary and leisure-time music organisations in the UK – although its membership will likely not represent the total number of community choirs in England.

Through Arts Council England’s 2023–26 Investment Programme, more money is going to more music organisations in more parts of the country than ever before, supporting 139 organisations classed as ‘music’ by investing c.£65 million of public funding per annum.

Separately, HM Government funds a diverse portfolio of music and arts education programmes which are designed to improve participation in the arts for all children. The National Plan for Music Education and the upcoming Cultural Education Plan will encourage more young people to take up music lessons, attend local cultural events, and consider careers in the music sector.