Quality Music Education Still Not Available To All

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 16th Jan 2007

Commenting on today's announcement that the Government will launch a campaign to encourage primary school children and their teachers to sing more often, Liberal Democrat Arts and Culture Spokesperson and member of the Education and Skills Select Committee, Paul Holmes MP said:

"I welcome any initiative that improves music education in schools and gets pupils interested and involved in music.

"However, Liberal Democrat research has discovered that only 13% of children at primary school are learning a musical instrument.

"Teaching children to sing must not simply be a cheaper alternative to fulfilling the Government's promise of giving every child the opportunity to learn an instrument.

"In 1999 David Blunkett promised that every child that wanted to learn a musical instrument would be given the opportunity at school. Seven years on the government have clearly failed to meet this target.

"Four years ago the Wider Opportunities initiative promised that by 2010 all primary school pupils would have a year of music tuition free of charge, yet last year the Government introduced charges for music tuition.

"The State of Play conference may aim to improve the standard of music education in schools, but most children are still denied access to learning an instrument. Sadly the quality of music education is still dependent on who can afford to pay for lessons and where a child lives.

"The Government have time and again tried to improve music in schools but have not backed this up with the funding to make a difference."