Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the number of young people starting (a) level two and (b) level three engineering related qualifications.

Students are able to take small academic qualifications in engineering alongside A levels to progress to higher education. Our reforms to level 2 will improve the quality of qualifications on offer and the support for those who need it, including qualifications supporting progression directly into employment, and transition support to progress to level 3. This includes the T Level Transition Programme which already provides a high-quality route onto T Levels for those who need it. It also includes our pilot of an Academic Progression Programme, supporting students who may not be able to progress to level 3 academic study straight away, but could do after some further preparation.

The introduction of T Levels, alongside technical education reforms, will boost access to high quality technical qualifications for thousands of young people. This September the department launched three T Levels in Engineering and Manufacturing in further education providers across the country, giving young people the skills employers need.