Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the impact of removing funding for BTECs for young people on people wishing to pursue a career in the video games industry.

The department is reforming the post-16 qualifications system to provide clearer choices for students and to put A levels and T Levels at the heart of 16-19 study. Qualifications such as BTECs will continue to play an important role for 16 to 19-year-olds and adults. For students, this includes taking these qualifications in mixed programmes alongside A levels, or as an alternative programme in areas that may be less well-served by A levels or T Levels.

On 14 October, the department published a list of qualifications which will have funding removed from 2024 due to overlapping with a wave 1 or 2 T Level. We will publish the provisional list of qualifications which overlap with a wave 3 or 4 T Level in spring 2023. These qualifications, if not successfully appealed, will have funding removed from August 2025.

The updated impact assessment published alongside the response to the second stage consultation can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-post-16-qualifications-at-level-3-in-england--2. The assessment looked at the potential impact of the review on students, but it did not look specifically at those looking to pursue a career in the video games industry.