Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing funding for vocational qualifications at level three for the 2025-26 academic year.

The department funds vocational and technical qualifications for post-16 learners and will continue to fund them in 2025 in line with its broader policy on qualifications.

The government is clear that learners should study high quality qualifications that support its missions to grow the economy and break down barriers to opportunity. In July, the department announced that it was undertaking a rapid review of qualifications and paused the defunding due to take place on 1 August 2024. This review is well underway and will confirm the funding status for the Level 3 qualifications on the defunding lists.

There are qualifications on these lists which have low and no enrolments. These will have funding removed, although we also accept that there are exceptions, such as niche qualifications, and we will allow for this.

The department is open to qualifications continuing to be funded where they are needed. This could include large qualifications and those that overlap with T Levels where necessary. This may be in the short or longer term, and the department is clear that it wants to continue to reform qualifications so that quality improves.

The review of qualifications reform will be completed by the end of the year.

The department has also introduced new technical and academic qualifications at Level 3 and at Level 2 and these will be available from August 2025.

The qualifications landscape available in 2025 and beyond will include options in addition to A levels and T Levels, where they are needed to support economic growth, support employers and learners and broaden opportunity.