Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that adequate numbers of T Level industry placements are made available in the required (a) sectors and (b) locations.

The department is keen to ensure that all T level students will have access to high quality industry placements. The consultation on T levels, held earlier this year, asked how we can support all students to access industry placements relevant to their course in areas where there are not employers to offer industry placements nearby.

Feedback from the consultation and the industry placement pilot scheme last year helped identify what support is needed. We have provided nearly £60 million during this academic year to help post-16 providers to build their capacity to deliver industry placements in advance of T level roll-out. We are also working with the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs to understand how students in rural, coastal and remote areas can access industry placements.

We are also carrying out extensive stakeholder engagement across different challenging industries to ensure that industry placement policy generates placements that are meaningful and reflective of current industry practice, which will help to widen access to T levels in all parts of the country.