Cuts must not stop poor pupils from learning musical instruments, Scotland’s first minister has warned.

Nicola Sturgeon made her comments after hearing concerns that the student population at Scotland’s leading centre for arts education will become less diverse because fewer children are getting the chance to learn an instrument.

Speaking at First Minister’s Questions yesterday, Ms Sturgeon said: “I do share concerns about a number of local authority decisions to reduce access to instrumental music tuition for young people.”

She added that education secretary and deputy first minister John Swinney had instructed officials to “identify ways to ensure that instrumental music tuition remains accessible to people regardless of background”.

Ms Sturgeon said that West Lothian Council, which published some of the most controversial cuts to music tuition, was already reconsidering its plans.

Music cuts ‘detrimental to the cultural life of the nation’

The first minister responded after Conservative education spokeswoman Liz Smith recalled concerns that Royal Conservatoire of Scotland principal Jeffrey Sharkey had expressed recently to the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee.

Ms Smith said Professor Sharkey had warned that the conservatoire’s commitment to a diverse intake was “being seriously undermined by the fact that a diminishing number of pupils in Scotland have access to quality arts provision, especially music tuition”.

She quoted Professor Sharkey’s comments that this was having “a detrimental impact on the cultural life of the nation and on the creative potential of young people”.

In December, the EIS teaching union warned that Scotland’s “proud cultural tradition” in music was under serious threat from budget cuts and changes to school governance.

In 2016, Tes Scotland reported on a study of proposed cuts that led to the prediction from music instructors that “In the next two to three years, the greatest challenge facing instrumental music provision will be its survival.”