To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 17 January (HL Deb, col 321) which stated that they “clearly need to prioritise our bursaries budget so that we can incentivise applications in subjects where it is hardest to attract applicants”, on what evidence they based their decision to offer initial teacher training bursaries for music but not for art and design.

Recruitment to art and design teacher training courses has consistently exceeded recruitment to music courses in recent years. Despite the absence of a bursary, recruitment to art and design courses starting in 2018/19 increased from the previous year. For these reasons, and because resources are limited, we consider it appropriate to continue to provide bursaries for music and not for art and design.

Art and design trainee teachers are able to access student finance for their teacher training course. In addition to the tuition fee loan, a maintenance loan of up to £11,354 is available to support living costs incurred while training.