Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of plans to introduce VAT on independent schools on (a) the number of children attending choir schools, (b) the number of choir schools, (c) the music industry and (d) levels of tourism.

This government is committed to ending the VAT exemption that private schools enjoy and will confirm the introduction of these changes at the Budget on 30 October.

Following scrutiny of the government’s costing by the independent Office for Budget Responsibility, details of the government’s assessment of the expected impacts of these policy changes will be published at the Budget in the usual way.

The government is passionate about extending opportunities for children and young people in the arts through a broader curriculum, ensuring all pupils in state-funded schools can access creative subjects, alongside subjects such as mathematics, science and English.