Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of how much funding her Department provided for dance education in schools in the (a) 2009-10, (b) 2010-11 and (c) 2023-24 financial year; and if she will make an assessment of the difference in (i) real terms and (ii) percentage terms between funding in the (A) 2009-10 and (B) 2010-11 financial year and that in the 2023-24 financial year.

This government is clear that arts and music should be part of every child’s education.

The Independent Curriculum and Assessment Review will advise on how the department delivers a broader curriculum for every child, including subjects such as art and, music and drama. The department will also support children to study a creative or vocational subject to 16 and ensure accountability measures reflect this.

Schools have autonomy over how they spend their core funding and can decide how to best allocate their resources for the benefit of their students. The department does not provide schools with additional in-year funding for art, craft and design education, or for dance, drama or music education. Schools do not report back on the funding they have allocated to different subjects.

The total funding for mainstream schools in 2023/24 through the dedicated schools grant (DSG) and mainstream schools additional grant (MSAG) was £44.3 billion. The department cannot provide comparable funding data back to 2010 due to the changes in the funding system since that time. In particular, funding for schools was only identified separately from funding for high needs or early years in 2013, and funding for central school services provided by local authorities was split out from the schools block funding in 2018/2019.