Last Wednesday afternoon in the House of Lords there was a debate in the headline of “Performing Arts: GCSE and A-level Qualifications” which was established by Debbie Wilcox who is a Labour member and she is also the Shadow Education Spokesperson. She started the piece with the comment “To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the decline in the number of entries to GCSE and A-Level qualifications in the performing arts over the last decade.” The Government Minister who took part was Diana Barran who responded to the call from Debbie and then a few minutes later one of the people who took part was Archbishop of York who is Stephen Cottrell. His comment began with the words “My question is about the variability of access. I think we all recognise that the statistics quoted are going the wrong way. What we observe particularly is that it is far worse in some parts of the country than others.” The response from his comment came from Diana Barran whose response included the statement that “I respectfully disagree with him on the fact that we are not joined up.” so it was a very disturbing comment. I wonder how we can assist Stephen to be able to raise his concern? Here is the full question and answer and here is the whole debate.

Stephen: My question is about the variability of access. I think we all recognise that the statistics quoted are going the wrong way. What we observe particularly is that it is far worse in some parts of the country than others. That is something I particularly observe in the north, where I serve. The DCMS Committee’s report last year spoke about how the creative industries themselves are saying that there is a shortage of the skills that we need. What is being done about this and, particularly, how do we know about the situation? In about 2014, Ofsted changed the way its inspections investigated the arts. For instance, dance was looked at as part of PE. Does the Minister think that this lack of joined-up thinking has had an impact on where we are now and, in particular, on the way that some parts of the country are suffering much more than others?

Diana: The most reverend Primate is right that there are currently differing levels of engagement, take-up and opportunity in relation to the creative industries around the country. I respectfully disagree with him on the fact that we are not joined up. Actually, a great deal of work is going on between DCMS and the Department for Education in relation to the creative industries sector vision and the cultural education plan, to which I referred. In relation to Ofsted, it did a deep dive into a number of cultural and arts subjects in 2019 and highlighted their importance within the curriculum.