---

Dept for Culture Media and Sport

Answer

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assessment her Department has made of the benefit to children of learning to play musical instruments of (a) existing and (b) planned programmes funded by her Department designed to encourage children to begin or continue playing; and if she will make a statement. [222057] Estelle Morris: Youth Music, a national charity set up in 1999 with £10 million per year of National Lottery money provided through Arts Council England, has granted over 1,500 awards nationally and reached over 880,000 participants. All projects funded through Youth Music are evaluated. Youth Music has also funded seven Wider Opportunities pilots, in which schools have developed programmes to explore ways of delivering instrumental tuition to groups of young people. `Creating Chances for Making Music', an evaluation of these pilots (and of a further six funded by DfES), has been sent to every primary school, and LEA in England. Ofsted produced an evaluation report of 12 Wider Opportunities pilot areas. Findings were sent to all schools and LEAs in the form of a report and DVD entitled `Tuning In'.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

432 c177W;432 c175W; 222057

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Children Curriculum Finance Grants National Lottery Music Schools Training Young people Musical instruments Youth Music

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk