Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the decision to withdraw funding for the Level 3 NVQ Diploma in Stone Masonry Heritage and Skills on (a) the preservation of heritage skills and (b) the employment prospects of people trained in this field.

The government has a central mission to drive forward opportunity and growth, which relies on people having the skills needed to thrive in life and work. The construction sector is vital in driving economic prosperity and providing career opportunities for people at all ages and stages of their careers. For this reason, the department works closely with the construction sector to ensure our skills offer meets the needs of the sector.

Stonemasonry is a key skill, which is why an apprenticeship covering several stonemasonry occupations is available. This apprenticeship is, however, at level 2 and not at level 3. The Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education is currently working with industry to split this apprenticeship standard into a level 2 Stonemason apprenticeship and a level 3 Craft Stonemason apprenticeship, to better meet the needs of the sector. Classroom qualifications can be developed against occupational standards.

On 12 December 2024, the government announced the outcomes of the review of qualifications reform at level 3 in England. As part of this review, three level 3 qualifications in Stonemasonry will continue to have public funding removed from 31 July 2025. Awarding organisations have had the opportunity to appeal where necessary, so that specialist qualifications could be retained if it was demonstrated that they were needed. Full details of the review outcomes can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-level-3-qualifications-reform-provisional-outcomes.

The department has continued to remove funding from existing level 3 qualifications, not only because the standards are at level 2, but also due to the qualifications having less than 100 enrolments for three successive years, highlighting that a classroom-based qualification at level 3 is not being sufficiently used.

At level 2, there are still four qualifications in Stonemasonry available to young people and adults. These qualifications are used currently within apprenticeships and are closely aligned with the industry standards by design.

The department wants to ensure that qualifications are developed at the right level to enable people to enter skilled employment, and where qualifications attract public funding, we want to ensure that they are needed. Where they are not needed, including having very low levels of enrolments, we will continue to remove public funding so that students and employers have a simpler range of qualifications to choose from.