V-levels

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Baroness Smith of Malvern

Monday 23rd February 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

The noble Lord is of course right that we need good jobs for young people. We also need investment in their education and training, which this Government are putting in place. The £1.5 billion that the Chancellor made available to support the youth guarantee and apprenticeships for young people will help to ensure more opportunities for apprenticeships, more opportunities to get young people who are currently out of work into work, and a backstop job guarantee for those young people.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

Will the Minister tell the House just how successful T-levels have been? Take-up by employers is said to have been mixed at best. That being the case, how is she going to persuade employers to take part in V-levels?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

Nearly 85,000 students have started a T-level since the launch in 2020, and we saw considerable growth last year in the numbers of students taking them up. We are seeing improvements in the pass rate and in retention rates. There is a challenge to ensure that high-quality industrial placements are made available to more students. To ensure that that is possible, we have made some revisions to the requirements for industrial placements to enable even more students to benefit from them.

Post-16 Financial Education

Debate between Baroness Wheatcroft and Baroness Smith of Malvern

Thursday 12th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

I have had some very good contacts with the OECD about the work that it is doing, not just in this area but more broadly. I cannot commit at this moment that we will take part in that study, but I will certainly undertake to go away and consider whether there are opportunities there.

[Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)]

My Lords, children leaving care are particularly disadvantaged in this area. Can the Minister say whether there will be special provision for children leaving care to be provided with financial advice for when they are really on their own?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

The noble Baroness makes a very important point about the need to support young people leaving care. That, of course, is the reason for making personal advisers available to young people in that position. It is why, as we have been, and will be, debating in the Bill that comes later and more broadly in the Government’s reforms, we must be much clearer about the support available to care leavers and the offer that needs to be made available to them in all parts of the country.