"All Our Futures" (Hansard, 13 February 2004)

§ Estelle Morris

The National Advisory Committee on Creative and Cultural Education reported jointly to the Secretaries of State for Culture, Media and Sport and Education and Employment in 1999 via the report "All Our Futures". The report contained 59 detailed36W recommendations for action by a range of bodies including Government, schools and higher education institutions.

Many of the recommendations in "All Our Futures" are framed quite broadly. However, my Department has worked closely with the Department for Education and Skills, and external partners, to implement all of those which fall to DCMS.

Among the key examples are the Creative Partnerships programme, which aims to build long-term, sustainable relationships between creative professionals and schools. With £110 million of funding over four years, the programme, which began in September 2002, has enabled over 110,000 pupils to become involved in over 1,400 projects so far.

The £130 million Space for Sport and Arts (SSA) programme is funding the building of nearly 300 facilities in primary schools in the 20 per cent. most deprived wards in the country. 138 SSA projects have now been completed and 84 more have work ongoing.

To support new music making opportunities for young people, Youth Music was established in 1999 with £10 million per annum of Lottery funding. It has already reached over one million young people and their wider communities. Alongside this, the Music Standards Fund, also established in 1999, provides £60 million per annum established to protect and expand LEA music services.

Another relevant initiative is Artsmark, which seeks to recognise those schools which offer a wide range of arts provision. Nearly 2,000 schools now have awards, including one in five secondary schools nationally.