Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make it her policy to ensure that students on T-level work placements are (a) paid for their labour in line with the national living wage and (b) have opportunities to develop relevant skills and experience on such placements.

The department is committed to ensuring students have access to high quality T Level industry placements. Industry placements provide young people with the knowledge and experience needed to open the door into skilled employment, further study, or a higher apprenticeship.

T Level industry placements are about providing students with high-quality, meaningful training, rather than providing job roles. As the placement is forming part of a course of further education, there is no legal requirement or expectation to pay students on industry placements. However, employers can optionally choose to pay students, or fund students’ travel and subsistence, if they would like to.

The department has provided an extensive programme of employer and provider support to help with the delivery of high-quality placements where students can develop relevant skills and experiences for their T Level and beyond. The support offers providers and employers tailored advice, guidance, and hands-on support to deliver high-quality placements at scale. We have invested over £240 million over the past 4 years to help providers build their capacity and relationships with employers and have developed a comprehensive package of advice and guidance to support providers to deliver placements, as well as networking opportunities to share best practice.

To provide a strong pipeline of employers across all sectors and areas of the country, the department is engaging directly with employers of all sizes throughout the UK, via the department’s employer engagement teams, to promote the benefits of T Levels and of hosting industry placements. We have a T Level Ambassador Network that is continuing to recruit T Level advocates across key industries to inspire engagement in the T Level programme, and in January this year we launched our ‘Join the Skills Revolution’ campaign, which promotes government’s training and employment schemes, including T Levels, to employers.