Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has he made of the propensity of students living and studying in rural areas to take up T levels.

We want students to be able to access high quality T level programmes, regardless of where they live. We are aware of the potential barriers that students living in rural areas face, particularly in relation to accessing industry placements. We will work closely with the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to understand which students may find it difficult to access a placement, and how we can make sure that they are not disadvantaged in any way. Providers in receipt of capacity and delivery fund allocations to support industry placements have also been allocated additional 16-19 discretionary bursary funding of just under £2.5 million to support students on their placements, for example, to help with their travel costs.