All-Party Parliamentary Group for T Levels

T Levels

All-Party Parliamentary Group for

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on T Levels is an informal cross-party group of Parliamentarians which serves to provide a forum to engage with interested stakeholders and promote the value of T Levels in collaboration with industry.

About the Group

This forum will ensure that key decision-makers understand the opportunities offered and challenges faced by the new T Level qualification, as well as considering challenges to implementation and how these are being overcome, and helping to scrutinise and shape policy.

The key objectives of the Group will be to:

Increase cross-party Parliamentarian awareness, understanding of, and support for, this new qualification;
Ensure T Levels are positively received by Parliamentarians, key stakeholders and the wider public;
Provide a forum for stakeholders to demonstrate their commitment and understanding of the challenges facing young people today and in the future, and how the T Level qualification programme widens participation.

Chair and Vice Chair

Co-Chair: Christian Wakeford MP

Christian Wakeford MP, the Member of Parliament for Bury South was elected Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for T Levels in September 2021 following the appointment of the former APPG Chair and former Education Secretary, The Rt. Hon. Damian Hinds MP, as Minister of State for Security.

A former member of the Education Select Committee, Christian now serves as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Bridget Phillipson, the Shadow Secretary of State for Education. He has long been a supporter of T Levels as “a new chapter in the delivery of post-16 education for vocational skills”

Co-Chair: Jane Hunt MP

Jane Hunt MP, the Member of Parliament for Loughborough, is the Conservative Co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for T Levels in January 2023. She had previously served as Co-Chair in 2022, stepping down to serve as Minister for Small Business in July 2022.

Jane has a wide range of interest in Parliament, including technical education, the early years and small business and micro enterprise. Prior to her election to the House of Commons, Jane served as the Honorary Secretary of Loughborough Chamber of Trade and Commerce and a Trustee of Clarke and Somerville Education Foundation.

Vice Chair: The Rt Hon. Lord Blunkett P

Lord Blunkett was first elected to Parliament in 1987. Prior to becoming an MP, he served as Leader of Sheffield City Council from 1980-87. Under the party leadership of first John Smith and then Tony Blair, he served as Shadow Secretary of State for Health from 1992 to 1994 and as Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Employment from 1994 to May 1997, when Labour entered government.

In government, he served as Secretary of State for Education and Employment from 1997 to 2001, Home Secretary from 2001 to 2004 and Work and Pensions Secretary from May to November 2005. As Secretary of State for Education one of his key achievements was to launch the Learning and Skills Council. He was made a Peer in 2015 and remains a strong supporter of technical education in the House of Lords.

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Group Materials

Reports

Minutes

Statements

Subscribe to our YouTube
Watch back previous APPG sessions via our YouTube channel: APPG for T Levels - YouTube

Contact the group

Connect provide the Secretariat to the Group on behalf of the Group sponsors. For information on Connect’s clients, please visit the PRCA Register.

If you have any questions or would like to find out more about the APPG, please contact us on 0207 592 9592 or email TLevelsAPPG@connectpa.co.uk

Chair: Christian Wakeford MP, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA. Tel: 020 7219 6437. Email: christian.wakeford.mp@parliament.uk

This is not an official website [or Feed] of Parliament. It has not been approved by either House. APPGs are informal groups of Parliamentarians with a common interest in particular issues. The views expressed are those of the group.

Group Sponsors

The Group is supported by the organisations below who help fund the running of the Group via its secretariat, Connect. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of the Group please contact TLevelsAPPG@connectpa.co.uk

Upcoming event
T Levels and the Advanced British Standard

Date: Tuesday 21 November

Time: 15:00 – 16:00

Venue: Room C, 1 Parliament Street and via Zoom

Following the Prime Minister's announcement of the Advanced British Standard (ABS) at Conservative Party Conference, this session of the APPG will look at the future of T Levels. The Department for Education has said the new qualification will have T Levels as its "backbone" and the group will therefore examine how this can be achieved and how the ABS can still maintain vital elements of the unique technical education experience and syllabus.

This event will be held both in person in Room S, Portcullis House, and broadcast live via Zoom. You can sign up attend by registering here.

Please note, registrations for this event will close at 00:00 on Monday 20 November.

If you have any questions please contact the Group’s secretariat at Connect via: TLevelsAPPG@connectpa.co.uk

Register to attend

T Levels