Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with (a) local authorities and (b) businesses in the North East on the decision to stop funding for Level 3 tourism qualifications by 2025.

The department has embarked on an ambitious technical education reform programme. We consulted several times on the reforms to seek the views on our proposed changes. In March 2019, the government launched the first stage consultation to gather views and evidence about the principles that should apply to post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below in England. The results of this consultation are available at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/928952/Review_of_post-16_qualifications_at_level_3_and_below_-_First_stage_government_response.pdf.

In July 2021, the department published its response to the second stage consultation of the review of post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below, which ran between the 23 October 2020 to 31 January 2021.The department made clear its intentions to streamline the qualifications landscape, simplify choices for students, and only fund qualifications that are high quality and lead to good progression outcomes. The response is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/review-of-post-16-qualifications-at-level-3-second-stage.

The changes to post-16 qualifications at level 3 and below are designed to ensure that our qualifications system provides a ladder of opportunity for young people from all backgrounds. The department wants as many people as possible to undertake world class A levels and T Levels, which evidence shows provide the best foundation from which to progress, either into higher education, or skilled employment.

Data shows that, in the following year, of the approximately 3,100 16-18 students who completed a level 3 qualification in Travel and Tourism in 2018/19:

• Only 16% progressed into HE, of which just under half (44%) moved into Travel and Tourism related HE study.
• Just under half (45%) moved purely into employment, in a mixed range of sectors, including retail and wholesale (30%), hospitality (24%), administration (10%), health and social care (8%), and transport (6%).
• 26% of students went on to further education study, the majority (64%) in the same area.

This shows mixed progression outcomes for these qualifications. Specifying that newly developed travel and tourism-related qualifications must be based on employer-designed, approved occupational standards at level 3 will ensure that students gain the knowledge, skills, and behaviours employers in the travel and tourism industries need, leading to better and more consistent progression outcomes for young people.

The department will continue to fund travel and tourism qualifications at level 3 beyond 2025. Existing travel and tourism qualifications will remain funded until 31 July 2026, after which qualifications approved for funding in travel and tourism will need to be mapped against one of the relevant occupational standards at level 3 for technical qualifications. Further information can be found here: https://occupational-maps.instituteforapprenticeships.org/.

For future qualifications, the department is encouraging awarding organisations to work with schools, colleges and employers to develop new travel and tourism-focused technical qualifications at level 3 that support young people to enter employment or further technical study where that is what they want to do.