Question reference: S6W-26041
- Asked by: Willie Rennie, MSP for North East Fife, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 7 March 2024
-
Current status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 19 March 2024
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether a reduction in the provision of secondary school music tuition would breach the 2021 arrangement to remove fees from such provision.
Answer
There is no evidence of an overall reduction in the provision of secondary school music tuition. In fact the most recent Instrumental Music Services: Results from the IMS Survey 2023 (improvementservice.org.uk) published in December 2023 confirmed that 61,715 pupils participated in instrumental music lessons in academic year 2022-23, the highest number since the annual survey began 11 years ago.
The policy of free instrumental tuition has now been firmly established across all Local Authority Music Services. The Scottish Government continues to support local authorities to deliver free instrumental music tuition in schools, removing financial barriers to learning an instrument.