Asked by: Baroness Fraser of Craigmaddie (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what provision they are making to ensure that specialist music and dance schools continue to be financially supported so that they are able to offer places on the basis of talent and potential, not ability to pay.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the noble Lady to the answer of 4 November 2025 to Question 79898.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that the Creative Industries Sector Vision (a) supports and (b) expands (i) existing skills training schemes and (ii) new training programmes.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Our Creative Industries Sector Plan, published in June 2025, sets out our approach to developing a high quality, responsive, inclusive and targeted education, skills and training offer, meeting the workforce requirements of the creative industries.
This includes refining and developing the growth and skills offer to deliver apprenticeships and skills training that recognise the particular needs of the sector, supporting existing schemes like flexi-job apprenticeships, and introducing new flexibilities such as short courses. The Government introduced new creative Higher Technical Qualifications in September, and will continue to expand the quantity of creative training pathways more broadly, including through further regional creative skills bootcamps.
Access to a high-quality arts education supports the pipeline into the creative industries and cultural sectors. Under this government, access will not be the preserve of the privileged few, but the entitlement of every child. The Curriculum and Assessment Review and the government's response has been published. We are committing to revitalising arts education, putting it back at the heart of a rich and broad curriculum through high-quality support for teachers of creative subjects and the new National Centre for Arts and Music Education.
The National Centre for Arts and Music Education will launch in September 2026, improving access and opportunity for children and young people and strengthening collaboration between schools and industry. It will promote high quality arts education, provide continuous professional development to teachers, and boost partnerships between schools and creative organisations.
We are also supporting music and dance through Arts Council England which provides £450,000 per annum to the National Youth Dance Company, which offers high-quality training and performance opportunities; and £420,000 per annum to the National Youth Music Organisations who help develop talented young musicians across all kinds of music styles.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what plans she has to ensure that music and dance education remains central to the creative industries.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Our Creative Industries Sector Plan, published in June 2025, sets out our approach to developing a high quality, responsive, inclusive and targeted education, skills and training offer, meeting the workforce requirements of the creative industries.
This includes refining and developing the growth and skills offer to deliver apprenticeships and skills training that recognise the particular needs of the sector, supporting existing schemes like flexi-job apprenticeships, and introducing new flexibilities such as short courses. The Government introduced new creative Higher Technical Qualifications in September, and will continue to expand the quantity of creative training pathways more broadly, including through further regional creative skills bootcamps.
Access to a high-quality arts education supports the pipeline into the creative industries and cultural sectors. Under this government, access will not be the preserve of the privileged few, but the entitlement of every child. The Curriculum and Assessment Review and the government's response has been published. We are committing to revitalising arts education, putting it back at the heart of a rich and broad curriculum through high-quality support for teachers of creative subjects and the new National Centre for Arts and Music Education.
The National Centre for Arts and Music Education will launch in September 2026, improving access and opportunity for children and young people and strengthening collaboration between schools and industry. It will promote high quality arts education, provide continuous professional development to teachers, and boost partnerships between schools and creative organisations.
We are also supporting music and dance through Arts Council England which provides £450,000 per annum to the National Youth Dance Company, which offers high-quality training and performance opportunities; and £420,000 per annum to the National Youth Music Organisations who help develop talented young musicians across all kinds of music styles.
Asked by: Earl of Clancarty (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are the absolute numbers of specialist teachers in academies and maintained schools for each subject for each year from Key Stages 1 to 4 inclusive.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data on the number of specialist teachers in state-funded secondary mainstream schools is published in the School workforce in England statistical publication. Figures for each subject for each year can be found below. This data has been available since 5 June 2025.
Information on subjects taught is not collected from primary schools.
Headcount of qualified specialist teachers holding a qualification in a related subject by subjects taught and Key Stage, in England for 2024/25:
Subject taught | Key Stage 3 | Key Stage 4 |
All subjects | 156,459 | 166,445 |
All Design and Technology | 8,632 | 6,422 |
All EBacc Subjects | 109,096 | 111,201 |
All Modern Foreign Languages | 9,349 | 9,351 |
All Sciences | 32,134 | 31,908 |
Art & Design | 8,913 | 7,062 |
Biology | 1,270 | 3,878 |
Business Studies | 539 | 4,029 |
Chemistry | 1,007 | 2,982 |
Combined Arts / Humanities / Social Studies | 54 | 28 |
Computer Science | 3,676 | 3,588 |
Design and Technology - Combined | 6,867 | 3,192 |
Design and Technology - Electronics/Systems and Control | 95 | 94 |
Design and Technology - Food Technology | 1,217 | 1,711 |
Design and Technology - Graphics | 250 | 425 |
Design and Technology - Other | 358 | 517 |
Design and Technology - Resistant Materials | 362 | 482 |
Design and Technology - Textiles | 416 | 653 |
Drama | 4,621 | 3,750 |
Engineering | 162 | 885 |
English | 26,792 | 26,624 |
French | 6,669 | 5,281 |
General/Combined Science | 27,488 | 24,455 |
Geography | 9,804 | 9,351 |
German | 1,593 | 1,410 |
History | 12,281 | 11,268 |
ICT | 1,768 | 1,269 |
Mathematics | 23,492 | 23,941 |
Media Studies | 121 | 729 |
Music | 4,962 | 4,173 |
Other Humanities | 249 | 249 |
Other Modern Foreign Language | 778 | 330 |
Other Social Studies | 249 | 1,536 |
Other science | 271 | 672 |
PE/Sports | 18,005 | 17,879 |
Physics | 745 | 2,060 |
Religious Education | 5,729 | 5,417 |
Spanish | 3,782 | 3,427 |
Source: School Workforce Census November 2024.
Asked by: Caroline Dinenage (Conservative - Gosport)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that children from non-privileged backgrounds have access to music and dance schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Funding of approximately £36.5 million is committed for the 2025/26 academic year for the Music and Dance Scheme, which provides income assessed bursaries to enable exceptionally talented children, regardless of their personal and financial circumstances, to attend specialist music and dance institutions.
Asked by: Bradley Thomas (Conservative - Bromsgrove)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of (a) the Music and Dance Scheme and (b) other school funding schemes in the context of current levels of inflation.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The government fully supports the arts and the development of a skills pipeline into the creative industries.
The department is providing £36.5 million for the Music and Dance Scheme this academic year.
Asked by: Mohammad Yasin (Labour - Bedford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of existing funding levels for the Music and Dance Scheme; and whether she plans to (a) uplift bursary rates in line with inflation and (b) provide multi-year funding settlements to give greater certainty to participating schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer my hon. Friend, the Member for Bedford, to the answer of 23 October 2025 to Question 78882.
Asked by: Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to continue to support creative industries, including through the Music and Dance Scheme.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The creative industries are one of this government’s priority sectors for growth, as set out in our Industrial Strategy. The Creative Industries Sector Plan aims to make the UK the top destination for creativity and innovation by 2035. The Plan includes targeted packages for high-growth subsectors, including film, TV, video games, advertising, music, visual and performing arts. The Plan focuses on helping creative businesses access finance, export and innovate, and to develop a high quality workforce.
As part of this, the Government fully supports the arts and the skills pipeline into the creative industries, with the Department for Education providing £36.5 million for the Music and Dance Scheme this academic year.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address the continuing shortfall in recruitment of secondary music teachers, in the light of the Department for Education’s data showing that recruitment targets have been missed in 11 of the past 12 years.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Initial teacher training (ITT) bursaries are offered to incentivise more applications to ITT courses. The department reviews the bursaries annually to take account of ITT recruitment to date, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need in each subject. The bursaries we offer also take account of the high earning potential of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduates. Whether a bursary is offered or not, student trainee teachers can access a tuition fee loan, maintenance loan and additional support dependent on their circumstances, such as the Childcare Grant.
Between the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years, postgraduate ITT recruitment for music increased by 53%, one of the largest increases for any subject. Acceptances for ITT courses starting in the 2025/26 academic year indicate a further improvement. At the same time, demand for music trainee teachers has fallen due to this higher ITT recruitment and more favourable teacher retention forecasts. As a result, the postgraduate ITT target in music reduced by 31% for courses starting in 2025/26.
As part of our Opportunity Mission, we want high quality music and arts education for every child in all state-funded schools. This is why we announced our intention to launch a new National Centre for Arts and Music Education to deliver excellent continuing professional development for teachers in all the arts subjects, including music. The Curriculum and Assessment Review final report is also considering all the arts subjects, and final report and government response will be published shortly.
Asked by: Lord Freyberg (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the effect of removing the initial teacher training bursary for music on access to the teaching profession for candidates from lower-income backgrounds.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Initial teacher training (ITT) bursaries are offered to incentivise more applications to ITT courses. The department reviews the bursaries annually to take account of ITT recruitment to date, forecast economic conditions, and teacher supply need in each subject. The bursaries we offer also take account of the high earning potential of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduates. Whether a bursary is offered or not, student trainee teachers can access a tuition fee loan, maintenance loan and additional support dependent on their circumstances, such as the Childcare Grant.
Between the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years, postgraduate ITT recruitment for music increased by 53%, one of the largest increases for any subject. Acceptances for ITT courses starting in the 2025/26 academic year indicate a further improvement. At the same time, demand for music trainee teachers has fallen due to this higher ITT recruitment and more favourable teacher retention forecasts. As a result, the postgraduate ITT target in music reduced by 31% for courses starting in 2025/26.
As part of our Opportunity Mission, we want high quality music and arts education for every child in all state-funded schools. This is why we announced our intention to launch a new National Centre for Arts and Music Education to deliver excellent continuing professional development for teachers in all the arts subjects, including music. The Curriculum and Assessment Review final report is also considering all the arts subjects, and final report and government response will be published shortly.