Part of Education – in the House of Commons at on 1 December 2025.
Gareth Snell
Labour/Co-operative, Stoke-on-Trent Central
I draw the House’s attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests as a governor of the City of Stoke-on-Trent sixth-form college. The Minister will know that the further education sector welcomes V-levels to fill the gap between T-levels and A-levels, but he will also know that the Department is continuing with a programme of defunding some existing BTECs before the V-levels come online, meaning that some young people will be denied the opportunity of the right course for them during their FE career. Will he seriously consider freezing the defunding programme until V-levels are online, so that we protect student choice for students now and in the future?
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
