On Thursday late Morning the Business of the House questions took place and Penny Mordaunt who is the Leader of the House of Commons responded to the various questions and discussions. One of the people who took part was Barbara Keeley who is the Labour MP for Worsley and Eccles South and she is also the Shadow Minister for Culture, Media and Sport. The response from Penny included the comment that “The UK is not just STEM-powered; it is STEAM-powered, and our arts and creative industries are vital to that.” which was very significant. The whole of the question and the response can be seen below and can be found on the Government website here.

Barbara Keeley: Many arts organisations do impressive work in education outreach across the country. Examples include the brilliant create day run by the Royal Opera House, which engaged 2,000 students and teachers from Hounslow, Thurrock, Coventry and Doncaster; the excellent Music Makes Me initiative from the Tri-borough Music Hub, which involved 1,000 young people from three London boroughs performing at the Royal Albert Hall; and the Bath Philharmonia, which this week showcased in this House the great work it does with young carers. I know that theatre companies such as the Donmar Warehouse and the Royal Shakespeare Company also do brilliant education outreach work.

However, valuable as that work is, it is rapidly becoming a substitute for arts education in schools, and not all schools can benefit. Students from state-funded secondary schools have had their hours of arts education cut dramatically since 2010. Arts subjects such as music and drama are rapidly becoming the preserve of only those families that can afford to pay for them. As such, I ask the Leader of the House whether we can have a debate in Government time on the provision of arts education in state schools.

Penny Mordaunt: The hon. Lady raises a very important point, and the House has made its view known—many Members in the Chamber today support her. The UK is not just STEM-powered; it is STEAM-powered, and our arts and creative industries are vital to that. Of course, many of the organisations she has paid tribute to, from the Royal Opera House to the Royal Albert Hall, do incredible outreach work. To give a quick plug, the late Sir David Amess’s charity, the Music Man Project, will again be performing at the Royal Albert Hall next year, and I hope that many colleagues will go and listen to it. I will make sure that the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport has heard the hon. Lady’s views, and she will have a chance to question her on these matters before the summer recess.