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Education and Skills Bill

moved Amendment No. 20: 20: After Clause 18, insert the following new Clause— ““Careers education The Secretary of State shall commission an independent review into the effectiveness of the provision of careers advice in England and the appropriateness of a single all-age advice and guidance service as established in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, the amendments in this group were tabled in Committee and I have tabled them again today for slightly different reasons. Amendment No. 20 inserts a new clause on careers education. The noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, while supporting the amendment, suggested that it could sit better in a different part of the Bill. That may be so, but I am less concerned about that than with the meaning of the amendment. I would like the Secretary of State to conduct a review into how effective the provision of careers advice is in England and whether it would benefit from a single, all-age advice and guidance service. I have read carefully the response of the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, in Committee. He said that he recognised that the reforms under way for 14 to 19 year-olds would present a challenge to information, advice and guidance providers and that the Government would need to focus on continuous improvements and bringing the performance of all providers up to the highest standards. Yet while he acknowledged that the system was imperfect, he concluded his remarks in a somewhat offhand way by saying that the Government had conducted significant reviews of Connexions in recent years and they did not believe that a review of itself was likely to be a lever to drive up standards. I am sorry that I am repeating the previous Minister’s words to the current Minister, but I feel that the Government have understood my argument. I am not seeking a review for the sake of having a review—that would be a waste of time, effort and money—but I have said previously in this place that I do not believe that Connexions is up to scratch as a careers adviser. If, as the noble Lord said, the reforms affecting 14 to 19 year-olds are challenging the nature of existing systems, it seems sensible that the fitness for purpose of existing systems needs to be examined. As noble Lords will see from the wording of the amendment, I am not calling for a review of the system in a vacuum; I am calling specifically for it to be compared with systems in place in the other countries of the United Kingdom. I am well aware that devolution to the smaller UK countries means that different parts of the Kingdom may have different policies, but that should not exclude each country from looking at what the others are doing. If we spot a good idea in practice somewhere else, we would be foolish, to say the least, not to consider it. That is what will drive up standards, not the mechanisms of reviewing the system. Like all noble Lords, I want to see the best possible careers advice provision to help young people at all stages of their education to make the most appropriate decisions for their future. I hope that the Minister will give due consideration to this proposal. I have brought the second amendment in this group back today because when I moved it in Committee, the Minister, who was not the Minister at that stage, was caught unawares and did not feel that she could address the matter fully. She promised to take the issue away and consider it. I trust that she has now been able to do so. The amendment makes a simple point. It allows young people to have direct contact with those who might be considered role models in their chosen career, training or education path. As I said before, I applaud the Government for including in Clause 61 the means to provide information electronically. The internet is a useful tool, and young people happily use it to inform themselves as well as for entertainment. However, as the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, said in July in support of this amendment, "““face-to-face interviews are extremely important and we should make sure that we do not simply rely on the internet””.—[Official Report, 21/7/08; col. 1515.]" My amendment would make sure that as many options as possible are considered to help young people get a good feel for the decisions they must take on the direction they are going in. I hope that when the Minister was reflecting on this she saw that I intend this amendment to be helpful and to allow young people to arm themselves with as much useful information as they can before they embark on their future. I beg to move.