The Creative Education Access Bill, introduced by Baroness Featherstone, had its second reading in the House of Lords on 11 September 2026.
The Private Member’s Bill seeks to establish a minimum entitlement to creative and cultural education for pupils in state-funded schools in England, alongside stronger links between schools and the creative sector.
The Bill proposes a minimum of five hours of creative education each week at Key Stages 1 and 2, and four hours at Key Stage 3. It also includes measures around access to live creative experiences, sharing creative work, creative careers information and partnerships with the creative sector.
For NSEAD, the principle at the heart of the Bill is important: every child should have meaningful access to a rich creative education, regardless of their background, location or the school they attend. Art and design must be part of that entitlement.
NSEAD briefed Baroness Featherstone ahead of the Bill’s second reading, highlighting the vital role of art and design education and the need to protect and strengthen opportunities for all young people to engage with creative learning.
In the reading Baroness Featherstone said:
'This Bill has the support of many organisations, and I give thanks to the Cultural Learning Alliance, the National Society for Education in Art and Design, the National Theatre, the Independent Society of Musicians, Arts and Minds, the Independent Schools Council and the National Education Union, among many others.
'For far too long, creative education has been treated as an optional extra in our schools, a luxury to be squeezed in when time and budgets allow. Yet creativity is not just some sort of enrichment activity. It is a fundamental human capacity – one of the defining strengths of the British economy – and by creative education, I mean music, art, drama, dance, creative writing, design, film and digital media, as well as newer areas such as gaming and other forms of creative technology.
'These subjects matter in their own right, but they also help children to develop confidence, imagination, communication, collaboration and problem-solving.'A child’s opportunity to discover and develop a creative ability should never ever depend on their parents’ income, where they live or which school they happen to attend.
'Creative education should have a secure place in our schools, and every child should have the opportunity to discover what they can do.'
In response to the Bill, Michele Gregson, NSEAD General Secretary and CEO, said:
'A generation of young people are missing out on both breadth and depth of learning: we've seen schools introduce arts carousels or two-year Key Stage 3s; arts education in Year 6 pushed to after SATs have taken place; Key stage 4 Art & Design teaching hours are down -11.8%, despite all-subject teaching hours going up by +6.1% (2010-2026). The sum of this, means young people have missed out on sustained, high-quality creative education at precisely the time when learning can inspire a life-long love of learning in and through the arts. We need to ensure that access to creative education is an entitlement for every young person, not something determined by where you live or which school you attend. On behalf of ALL our members we 100 percent support this important Bill.'