That this House commends the work of Birmingham Creative Partnership in bringing creative thinking and artistic skills to 25 schools and their communities through partnerships with cultural and creative organisations; ranging from Birmingham Royal Ballet to Maverick TV, Punch Records to the Ikon Gallery; notes that in the West Midlands one new job in five is in the creative industries; believes that in addition to giving more young people access to the creative and cultural richness of the city that Creative Partnerships will transform expectations, helping young people and their families to develop the skills to cope with the changing social and cultural world that faces them, providing training in new creative industries from web design to sound engineering; and congratulates Birmingham for being at the cutting edge of developing creative education practice.

That this House commends the work of Birmingham Creative Partnership in bringing creative thinking and artistic skills to 25 schools and their communities through partnerships with cultural and creative organisations; ranging from Birmingham Royal Ballet to Maverick TV, Punch Records to the Ikon Gallery; notes that in the West Midlands...

That this House believes arts education and the provision of music in schools are a vital part of the curriculum that aims to provide for the spiritual, moral and cultural development of children; further believes that educational experiences of the arts result from co-operative efforts which have been organised effectively on a local authority basis for the last 40 years and that the wider cultural pursuits of school children are unlikely to continue without the stimulus of many education authorities; is concerned by the dramatic cuts in local authority education expenditure, teacher redundancies and the diminishing role of local education authorities; notes that the delegation of budgets to schools and the provisions of the Education Bill have the potential to undermine peripatetic teaching, the special needs of the exceptionally able children and activities such as school and youth orchestras, choirs, professional Theatre-In-Education and theatre visits; and calls for all political parties to recognise the value of arts education and music provision in schools and to act to promote the creative work and cultural experiences of all children.

That this House believes arts education and the provision of music in schools are a vital part of the curriculum that aims to provide for the spiritual, moral and cultural development of children; further believes that educational experiences of the arts result from co-operative efforts which have been organised effectively...