Creative Industries: Qualifications

Lord Addington Excerpts

Thursday 23rd July 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Addington (LD)]

My Lords, I congratulate the Minister on being in her place, although a debate when you have 10 Back-Benchers behind you, all firing shots at the back of your neck, may not be the most welcome way of coming back. They may not all be killing blows, but they are there. There are certain themes that have been clearly established in this debate. We still have our question mark about T-levels and V-levels—we do not really know what they are yet. If the Government are going to get rid of qualifications that work, we would like their replacements to be a lot better presented, and to know a lot more about them than we currently do.

T-levels have not had a great start. When they first came out, I remember there was one course where nobody finished. The fact that you have this big block that means you cannot do anything other than a T-level was one of the scariest things about it. The V-level does not have that; it fits in with the A-level structure. This may be a strength, or it may be a weakness; we do not quite know yet, but it is certainly an idea for a new examination that will come in to do a job and may remove examinations and structures that are achieving. Could it be better? Could it be worse? We do not know.

However, one thing that goes with this change in structure is something that has not been touched on: what is careers guidance going to tell pupils—and, more importantly, their parents—that this will do for them in the future? If you get that wrong, I do not care how good it is; it will fail because nobody will do it, or people will do it only as a last resort. That happens to exams: you come down, and go forward on, the established pathway.

GCSEs and A-levels are your absolute solid standard, and the previous Government’s reforms have made them even more solid. What are we going to do with them? How do they fit into this structure? That is something that I hope the Minister will be able to answer, because unless you know how they work together and what opportunities they are seen to create, you cannot give advice.

I have learned quite a lot in this debate—and not only about the ability of the noble Lord, Lord Knight, to pick a pocket. I am sorry; I could not resist that. Much of the discussion is about how we have a structure that works very well but most people will not hear about it. I am sure that people bypass very good training processes because they do not know what is there. When I looked at this debate initially, I thought about support services for film and other forms of creative activity: the things that go around them—technical support structures and innovations—which I have worked on in the DCMS brief.

How do you get qualified with these universal skills, which can be taken across the world? We do not know how to do that. We have lots of English graduates coming in and having to reskill at, say, levels 4 or 5 and going through. How do these exams allow you pathways to level 4 and 5 skills? That is good old-fashioned technician-level education: the thing we have had a problem with for decades—more decades even than I have been in this House. How do we make sure that that goes through? How will we educate the population about that being the way forward?

This means giving a little more status to further education. Let us face it, at the moment the higher education sector might look back over its shoulder and say that a university will not lose too much sleep if it starts to skill people at levels 4 and 5. We have graduates on level 6 courses in further education colleges, so let the two of them interact, because they will have a connection and will understand what is going on. I have hope for this current Government, with their huge majority and the new saviour from the north—I keep thinking “winter is coming”, but there we are. Unless we get that interaction between the various bits of the education system, it will go wrong, because that is what has happened in the past.

I am sure the Minister would send me rude notes if I did not raise my next subject: special educational needs. I see her nodding. The way forward, the entrance into this, tends to be English and maths at GCSE. I hope that, with the creative industries, we will be a little more flexible about how we allow people in and through. My noble friend Lady Garden, who is now on the Woolsack, mentioned this initially: what are the ways through? If we are still going to be obsessed by the GCSE entrance-level barrier for English and Maths—it used to be C-D and now it is 3-4—we will continue to exclude. I would say that, wouldn’t I? I am a dyslexic who is president of the British Dyslexia Association and who also happens to be chairman of an assistive technology company, Microlink PC. There are ways round and through.

Can the Minister say how we are being actively encouraged to show that somebody can communicate using technology in English and possibly maths? Dyscalculia and dyspraxia mean that you cannot finish exams. If this sector—which should be more flexible, as everybody has said—cannot take the first step forward and say, “Can you demonstrate that you can communicate using this technology?” but not in the conventional exam situation, we are missing an opportunity. Let us make sure that we get people into something that is developing and growing, and make sure that we have a structure in which people can strive. The performing arts are one thing, but it is about the people around the sides—the person who makes sure the set is there; the person who helps at a technical level to make sure the computer graphics work properly—who are there to support them. That is where the big figures for employment are, and it is providing that support that will help.

At the end of this, I think everybody has said to the Government, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. One size—or even two or three sizes—won’t fit everybody”. How will we get the best out of a sector that is growing and providing economic benefit, and indeed a more pleasant time, for the rest of society? It is a win-win if we can get it working properly. However, that requires, first, knowledge of the opportunities out there and how you get through and, secondly, greater flexibility of approach to get people in. Once you have done that, you can finish it off with a bit of status—and that status also comes with knowledge. This is an opportunity for this Government and future Governments to take. I hope we will embrace it, because it just might make our lives more pleasant.