Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has undertaken an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the hours on T Level Transition Programmes to bring them into line with T Level Programmes.

T Levels are significantly larger than other 16-19 study programmes. They are 2 year courses that include a substantial technical qualification and mandatory 9 week industry placement and cover significant theoretical and practical content to ensure students are able to successfully progress into work or further technical study. The T Level Transition Programme, in contrast, provides an additional year of support and preparation for those students who need it, before they are ready to enrol on a T Level. The differences in the number of funded hours for these programmes reflects their respective purposes and content.

From academic year 2022/23, T Levels and the T Level Transition Programmes will benefit from the additional hours the department will be funding for 16-19 education. For a band 5 ‘full-time’ T Level Transition Programme, this will mean an extra 40 hours, taking funded hours up to a minimum of 580 hours, with proportionate increases for smaller programmes. Students may also be able to receive additional small group tuition via the 16-19 Tuition Fund.