Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the extent, and (2) the impact, of the provision of arts and culture activities for children in schools by external organisations.

Participation in the arts brings a range of benefits for children and young people. In addition to the value of arts engagement in and of itself, the Education Endowment Fund’s teaching and learning toolkit, for example, reports positive impacts on academic outcomes in other curriculum areas, as well as benefits to children’s wellbeing and attitudes to learning.

There is a range of support available to schools from external organisations to help them provide arts and cultural activities. The government will be publishing a new enrichment framework this academic year, which will encourage partnership working and signpost to organisations, such as Arts Council England.

We are also committed to revitalising arts as part of the reformed national curriculum and qualifications, with high-quality support for teachers of these subjects through the new National Centre for Music and Arts, and our music hubs network.