Speeches by Paffey.

“Good morning. You will know that the curriculum and assessment review’s interim report was published last week, and in it, T-levels were described as the gold standard of vocational qualifications. I would be interested to hear if you share that view and what your assessment of T-levels is.”

“A number of you have raised issues thinking about the student experience, and we know that generally they are less satisfied and more likely to drop out than peers doing other qualifications. Some things that have been cited as factors of that are lack of familiarity with the qualification and a misunderstanding of its…”

“Good morning. You will know that the curriculum and assessment review’s interim report was published last week, and in it, T-levels were described as the gold standard of vocational qualifications. I would be interested to hear if you share that view and what your assessment of T-levels is.”

“A number of you have raised issues thinking about the student experience, and we know that generally they are less satisfied and more likely to drop out than peers doing other qualifications. Some things that have been cited as factors of that are lack of familiarity with the qualification and a misunderstanding of its…”

“I know a number of you made suggestions in your answers to the first question, so that is good to have those on record as well.”

“I will be asking about capital later.”

“A number of you have mentioned the rising number of students in the sector, and we have heard about the extra capacity—space and equipment—that is going to be needed to accommodate them. Does the Government’s capacity funding go far enough on that? If not, what else can be done by providers and teachers to mitigate the…”

“I should probably put on record, Chair, that until my election, I was a member of the UCU, which Jo leads. Let us turn to the other £300 million that we were mentioning, so the capital funding for colleges that was announced for 2025-26. How do each of you believe that funding should be prioritised?”

“Are you currently looking at it, or will you approach that closer to 2027?”

“Great, we will look out for it.”

“Is that what your commission is going to look at?”

“Thinking about once you have apprentices in place, in the last academic year, 2023-24, there was an over 38% drop-out rate before they finished their training. What are the specific interventions that you think would be most effective in trying to tackle that drop-out rate?”

“Some of the written evidence that we have seen in the Committee describes the apprenticeship system as “overly complex” and “rigid”. We began to touch on this, but what, in your view, are the ways of improving the entire process of taking and training an apprentice for employers? What is your perspective on that?”

“That is a fair point about rallying regional Governments and devolved Governments. Presumably, you still intend to make representations to the Department for Education on why it needs to ensure that the funding for this is sustainable. Can you say a little bit about what representations you intend to make or perhaps ar…”

“The other question is more general, about the funding of FE. At various points, the Committee has heard evidence that the FE sector has experienced what is quoted as a prolonged period of reduced funding, and that the Government must increase spending urgently. Do you agree with the assessment that the sector is underf…”

“Are you currently looking at it, or will you approach that closer to 2027?”

“I have couple of questions on funding, please. In December last year, the Government announced that they would retain until 2027 a number of the applied general qualifications that had previously been marked for defunding. That included quite a lot of BTECs. What assessment have you made of the potential merits of pres…”

“Great, we will look out for it.”

“Is that what your commission is going to look at?”

“Thinking about once you have apprentices in place, in the last academic year, 2023-24, there was an over 38% drop-out rate before they finished their training. What are the specific interventions that you think would be most effective in trying to tackle that drop-out rate?”