Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to help ensure that all SMEs are able to offer t-Level placements across the UK.

Small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are key to ensuring that industry placements are a successful component of T Levels, as they make up a large proportion of the employer landscape. We are engaging directly with employers of all sizes, including SMEs, through the department’s employer engagement teams to explain the benefits of T Levels and of industry hosting placements, and to help provide a strong pipeline of employers, across all sectors, ready to offer placements.

We are providing an extensive programme of support to help ensure employers of all sizes, including SMEs, are able to deliver placements. This includes a comprehensive employer support package, which offers guidance, workshops, and webinars, as well as tailored advice and direct hands-on support, to help build employer confidence and capability to deliver high-quality industry placements. We have also implemented several different delivery models to ensure placements can be delivered by employers of different sizes, across all industries and locations, and our T Level ambassador network is enabling employers, including SMEs, to engage with others in their industries on T Levels and placements. Finally, we have put in place a short-term incentive fund, offering employers £1,000 per industry placement, to encourage employers to offer placements during the COVID-19 outbreak, which has been warmly welcomed by SMEs.

We will continue to monitor the delivery of placements and work closely with employers, including SMEs, to identify what support they will need going forward to enable them to deliver high quality placements.