Creative Industries: Qualifications

Baroness Caine of Kentish Town Excerpts

Thursday 23rd July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Caine of Kentish Town (Lab)]

My Lords, I warmly thank my noble friend Lady Keeley for securing this debate and warmly welcome my noble friend the Minister back to her place.

To add to the statistics, Skills England estimates that the creative industries will need to fill around 1 million vacancies by 2035, a significant increase. Crucially, 82% of those roles will require qualifications at level 4 and above, compared with an economy-wide average of 62%. That means that occupational standards exist, where they do, largely at level 4, not level 3, which is the basis for the T-levels that are under discussion. Some 90% of creative businesses are micro-enterprises, as we have heard, employing fewer than 10 people. More than 30% of the workforce is freelance, but that critically increases in some key subsectors such as film and television, where it is over 50%.

For many years, the Department for Education has tended towards one-size-fits-all policies, designed around larger employers and more traditional sectors. Creative industries have repeatedly been recognised as atypical, yet the flexibilities needed to support them have too often been absent. As a result, employers have frequently developed their own solutions. When the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education mapped the creative and design pathways a few years ago, it concluded that T-levels were not the right qualifications for music, performing arts or graphic design. Two technical T-levels were introduced, craft and design—as my noble friend Lord Knight mentioned—and broadcast media production, with 678 students over two years now studying it.

To repeat, because T-levels exist, funding will be removed from alternative level 3 qualifications of 1,080 or more guided learning hours that map across to them for the 2027-28 year. What does that mean for the screen industries? What does it mean for the Ofsted “outstanding” London Screen Academy, founded and supported by leaders from the film and television industries? It delivers UAL level 3 and level 4 diplomas across a range of screen disciplines. Will parts or all of that provision be defunded? What does it mean for Birmingham Ormiston Academy, whose innovative partnerships are helping to build Birmingham’s fast-growing screen cluster? Which parts of its screen and stage academy BTEC provision are now at risk? I ask the Minister to consider aligning funding and change timelines, so that the sector and its providers can be considered strategically and as a whole. Important though those T-level students are, their numbers do not come close to meeting future workforce demand, and nor do they justify destabilising successful institutions and courses at such speed.

To turn to another example, on visual effects, animation and games, 10 years ago industry leaders UK Screen and Ukie decided not to wait for policy to catch up. They created the NextGen/AIM extended diploma in VFX, animation and games, and established the NextGen Skills Academy network, supporting partner colleges across England and Northern Ireland. More than 3,000 young people have since benefited from high-quality education and strong progression routes. That success now faces uncertainty, as Skills England develops a T-level focused solely on visual effects. UK Screen is clear that industry needs a broader qualification in computer-generated screen content, one that reflects the reality of modern production, is viable for colleges to deliver at scale and supports progression opportunities for young people into adjacent sectors.

In addition, there is an issue with finding work placements in industries that are populated by small companies. They are also an issue in the nations and regions of the UK. The main cluster of these industries is placed in London and the south-east. To have opportunities to experience them, people and young people elsewhere will require different forms of accessing them. If not, we face a Catch-22. Creative investment will not go to largely deprived rural and coastal areas where skills provision does not already exist, and skills provision cannot exist unless there are local employers to supply the placements. It is a Catch-22.

As the Creative Industries Council has made clear to government, the existing level 3 qualifications and the key institutions that deliver them are a vital part of the UK’s creative ecosystem. I declare an interest, having led skills and education for the Creative Industries Council for over a decade.

Qualifications need updating and simplification is important, but a simplification-first approach risks destabilising successful provision and limiting opportunity. Without employer confidence and support, change will not succeed. We must find a more flexible and pragmatic way forward that protects opportunities for young people and strengthens the talent pipeline on which these growth industries depend. I look forward to the Minister’s response.