Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

BTEC Qualifications

Monday 1 November 2021 · 4 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 4 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Ministerial discussions focused on the impact of removing funding for BTEC qualifications on students.
  • The Department's equalities impact assessment indicated that certain demographic groups were disproportionately affected by the plan to scrap BTECs.
  • The Minister emphasized the intention to reform technical education by introducing gold-standard qualifications leading to work or higher education.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Paula Barker Lab Liverpool Wavertree
Education
Context

The question addresses the impact of a plan to remove funding from BTECs, affecting students in Liverpool and beyond. The City of Liverpool College offers 21 BTECs.

Question

What recent assessment has been made of the impact of removing funding for BTEC qualifications on students? Given that 4,500 young people in Liverpool alone studied BTECs in 2020—the figure is an underestimate, as it does not include older BTECs—the Government's plan to scrap the majority of these qualifications will leave thousands of students in cities such as Liverpool without a viable pathway at the age of 16. Will the Secretary of State and his Ministers listen to the 24 education bodies in the Protect Student Choice campaign and the 118 parliamentarians who wrote to him about this issue, or perhaps to former Conservative Secretary of State Lord Baker, who has described the plan as an “act of educational vandalism”? Despite what the Secretary of State and the Minister have said, will they rethink the proposal to defund most BTECs?

Answer from Alex Burghart

We are undertaking an historic reform of technical education in this country. We want technical qualifications, at all levels, that are designed with employers to give students the opportunities they need. At 16, some students will get gold-standard level 3 qualifications leading to work, degree-level apprenticeships or higher education. For others, it means excellent level 2 qualifications leading to apprenticeships or work, or to our lifetime skills guarantee announced by the Prime Minister in September 2020.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific ask about reconsidering the decision to defund most BTECs was not addressed directly.

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Q2 Kim Johnson Lab Liverpool Riverside
Education Women & Equalities
Context

The Department's own equalities impact assessment concluded that students from SEND, black and disadvantaged backgrounds, and males are disproportionately likely to be affected by the plan to scrap most BTECs. The City of Liverpool College offers 21 BTEC and 51 level 3 qualifications with 1,400 learners impacted.

Question

I welcome the Minister's response to the question, but the Department's own equalities impact assessment concluded that those from SEND black and disadvantaged backgrounds, and males were disproportionately likely to be affected by the plan to scrap the majority of BTECs. The City of Liverpool College offers 21 BTEC and 51 level 3 qualifications, and 1,400 learners would be impacted by the proposed changes. Is it not time that he listened to the calls from the Protect Student Choice campaign to rethink this damaging proposal?

Answer from Alex Burghart

I thank the hon. Lady for her question; we are mindful of her point. We want all students, at all levels, to have the best opportunities. That is why we are reviewing level 3 and level 2 qualifications so that we can have a qualifications system giving students the skills they need for the jobs they need.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific ask about reconsidering the proposal was not directly addressed; instead, the Minister emphasized their desire to review qualifications.

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Q3 Paula Barker Lab Liverpool Wavertree
Education
Context

The question addresses the impact of a plan to remove funding from BTECs, affecting students in Liverpool and beyond. The City of Liverpool College offers 21 BTECs.

Question

Given that 4,500 young people in Liverpool alone studied BTECs in 2020—the figure is an underestimate, as it does not include older BTECs—the Government's plan to scrap the majority of these qualifications will leave thousands of students in cities such as Liverpool without a viable pathway at the age of 16. Will the Secretary of State and his Ministers listen to the 24 education bodies in the Protect Student Choice campaign and the 118 parliamentarians who wrote to him about this issue, or perhaps to former Conservative Secretary of State Lord Baker, who has described the plan as an “act of educational vandalism”? Despite what the Secretary of State and the Minister have said, will they rethink the proposal to defund most BTECs?

Answer from Alex Burghart

I thank the hon. Lady for her question; it is nice to have two questions from Liverpool back to back. We are undertaking an historic reform of technical education in this country, with gold-standard level 3 qualifications leading to work or higher education, and excellent level 2 qualifications leading to apprenticeships or work.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific ask about reconsidering the decision was not directly addressed; instead, the Minister emphasized their reform efforts.

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Q4 Toby Perkins Lab Chesterfield
Education
Context

The question addresses the Government's plan to scrap many BTECs, affecting students' pathways. There is a widespread concern that 230,000 students studying level 3 BTEC qualifications might not be able to get on to those qualifications in future.

Question

Clearly, it would have been sensible for the Government to have finished their evidence and understood the outcome of the policy before starting to undermine BTECs by announcing that they would defund many of them. There is a widespread body of opinion that many of the 230,000 students studying level 3 BTEC qualifications might not be able to get on to that qualification in future. Will the new Minister—I should have welcomed him to his place; I do so late in my question—tell us in which year the Government are likely to meet their target of having 100,000 students studying T-levels? Will he guarantee that those changes will not lead to a reduction in the number of students studying level 3 qualifications in the future?

Answer from Alex Burghart

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his belated welcome. We just had a historic spending review for skills with £2.8 billion of capital, including money for new T-levels across the period. Those T-levels will give more students opportunities to progress into work at a higher level.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The specific ask about providing a timeline and guarantee was not directly addressed; instead, the Minister mentioned spending on skills.

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