EBacc debate and gathering outside Parliament

Monday 4 July 2016 was a busy day for the Bacc for the Future campaign.

BBC Radio 4 covers the campaign

The Bacc for the Future campaign was covered on the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme. Listen from 01:17:00 onwards.

Dancing and music outside Parliament

We held a gathering outside Westminster to demonstrate the importance of the arts. Campaign supporters, MPs and Members of the House of Lords were treated to excellent performances by students from the BRIT School, St Matthew's Academy and the Sujata Banerjee Dance Company as well as a performance by Westcombe Brass.

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The debate in Parliament

Parliament debated the EBacc's omission of creative, artistic and technical subjects for almost three hours.

You can watch the debate online here: http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/ca06ebdb-0a8e-4867-a9ea-4cc82c94ff54

Or you can read the Hansard debate online here: https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2016-07-04/debates/16070422000001/EbaccExpressiveArtsSubjects

Every speech in the debate from across the political spectrum supported our collective voices, with Bacc for the Future getting mentioned specifically a number of times.

In his response to the debate, the Department for Education's schools minister Nick Gibb failed to address the concerns of Bacc for the Future and the 100,000 individuals who have supported the campaign. He failed to address recently published figures showing a drop in arts GCSE entriesresulting from this new EBacc proposal.

We will be writing to the minister to follow up his comments and respond in detail to his speech.
Watch the debate back.