Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government how they plan to ensure that the proposed devolution of technical educational pathways for young people to mayors and local authorities will retain the same equal access and opportunities for all young people, irrespective of where they reside.

The department is still at an early stage in developing the new technical education pathways. Our ambition is to ensure every young person has access to high-quality technical education pathways from age 14, supporting progression into further study, training and skilled employment.

We will work with the Mayoral Strategic Authorities and local leaders to design locally tailored, vocationally focussed pathways for each region, with rollout beginning from September 2028. This will include co-designing a national framework that provides a recognisable national offer with clear and consistent standards and expectations, while enabling areas to tailor pathways to local labour market needs and growth priorities.