Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the publication of the Curriculum and Assessment Review: interim report, published on 18 March, what plans they have to revisit guidance to allow awarding bodies time to submit new versions of post-16 diploma-size qualifications that overlap with Cycle 1 T Level subjects for approval alongside T Levels routes.

The government considered which qualifications are needed alongside T Levels and A levels in its rapid review of qualifications reform at the end of last year and retained funding for 157 qualifications that were previously due to have funding removed following that review. The government will retain funding for these qualifications until we consider that they are no longer needed. The government also made clear that we will not allow for other types of large qualifications in T Level areas. This is because T Levels are high quality qualifications and should be the qualification of choice for those who wish to study a large qualification in T Level areas.

Alongside A levels and T Levels, learners can study alternative level 3 qualifications. These currently include applied general qualifications and technical and vocational qualifications, which are being reformed into Alternative Academic Qualifications and Reformed Technical Qualifications. 74 of these newly reformed level 3 qualifications were approved in May 2024 and will be available to teach from this August, with more to follow in 2026.

The department has also removed the additional requirements to the rules of combination until 2027. This change allows providers greater flexibility to create study programmes that best suit individual learner needs.

Removing the additional requirements on the rules of combination will ensure that we are not pre-empting recommendations from the Curriculum and Assessment Review on curriculum pathways and longer-term qualifications reform.

The department will consider the Review’s recommendations, including on qualification types and sizes, when they are published later this year, and we will update guidance to awarding organisations following our consideration of the Review’s final report.