Creative Industries: Qualifications

Baroness Gill Excerpts

Thursday 23rd July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Gill (Lab)]

My Lords, I join the chorus and thank the noble Baroness, Lady Keeley, for securing this debate. I associate myself with the comments she made. It is an honour to follow the noble Baroness, Lady Caine, with her track record in leadership at Goldsmiths. It is thanks to that college that my son is in the creative sector and I get this knowledge. The UK film and television sector is a global powerhouse. The Government’s commitment to securing its future pipeline is highly commendable. The Department for Education’s constructive approach in its recent post-16 level 3 pathways consultation response is to be welcomed. By proposing a phased, route-by-route transition over the next four years and introducing alternative fee levels, the Government have shown that they are listening to the education sector in trying to simplify a complex qualification landscape.

However, as the DfE moves towards publishing its implementation plans, we must ensure that the unique project-based reality of the British film industry is fully integrated. The film and media sector does not operate like the traditional corporate environment, as I understand from my son and his friends. It thrives on collaborative, deeply immersive and fluid craft skills that cannot easily be retrofitted into standard technical boxes. Our current level 3 landscapes, specifically large-scale qualifications such as the diploma in creative media production, succeed because they provide the immense studio hours and creative freedom needed to write, shoot, edit and produce a film portfolio. As we look to the newly designed T-levels and single A-level-sized V-levels, a dialogue between government and industry experts is vital to address some of the structural challenges around recognising that film and high-end TV productions are overwhelmingly staffed by short-term freelancers and micro-businesses operating on a project-by-project basis.

As has been stated, finding thousands of structured, mandatory 45-day T-level industry placements within this highly transient ecosystem is a massive logistical challenge for colleges. Leading sector bodies, and your Lordships’ House today, have expressed concerns that the standardised 360 guided learning hours proposed for V-levels may not provide the deep practical immersion required for technical film crafts. A student cannot master cinematography or advanced visual effects as a minor, part-time component of a broader curriculum.

A lot of concern has been expressed here about the Department for Education’s decision to list the level 3 extended diploma in creative media for defunding because of the overlap with T-levels. As we have heard, this risks dismantling a highly valued, industry-approved talent engine before the new 2029 and 2030 creative qualifications are fully mature. Like other noble Lords, I mention the success of the BRIT School, the education that it provides for many children with SEND and the success it has had in placing them in full-time work.

The Government’s recent updates allowing for placement flexibility, such as utilising group projects, remote elements or multiple employers, show an excellent willingness to adapt. We now need to build on that flexibility to co-design a framework that protects our world-class film sector. To help strengthen this transition and support the department’s mission skills agenda, I have a couple of questions for my noble friend the Minister, whom I congratulate on her reappointment.

First, given that the film and television workforce is composed overwhelmingly of freelance crews and temporary project-based productions, my first question is: how can the department work alongside ScreenSkills and major UK studios to design a bespoke, flexible placement model that works for independent film sets, without placing an unmanageable bureaucratic burden on independent producers?

Secondly, while I welcome the introduction of V-levels to provide vital vocational choices alongside A-levels, many universities and film colleges worry that the standard 360-hour model lacks the practical studio depth of current extended diplomas. Will the Government collaborate with creative awarding bodies to approve larger, double-weighted or triple-weighted qualification sizes, specifically for technical, film, media and production pathways?