Planning for a no-deal Brexit will not lead to any delays in the introduction of T levels, Anne Milton has insisted.

As the government steps up planning for the UK leaving the EU without a deal, civil servants from across government departments are being drafted over to work on contingency plans.

Earlier this month, Tes revealed that the Department for Education faced losing up to a sixth of its workforce. Fears are also growing that Brexit wranglings in Parliament could put the government’s teacher recruitment and retention strategy at risk.

But the department plans to protect essential services and government priorities - including the roll-out of T levels, with the first subjects set to be taught in September 2020.  Speaking to Tes at the Sixth Form Colleges Association winter conference today, the apprenticeships and skills minister insisted that the first of the new qualifications are on track to be introduced next year as planned.

T levels ‘absolutely crucial’

“T levels will be going ahead on the planned timescale,” she said. “It’s unequivocal. It’s absolutely crucial.”

In December, The Times reported that T levels was one of the government policies vulnerable to “reprioritisation”. The claims were later denied by the DfE, with a spokesman insisting that they were “not under threat”.

In May 2018, education secretary Damian Hinds rejected a one-year delay to the T-level implementation date proposed by the DfE’s permanent secretary.