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Education and Skills Bill

My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, said that in Committee I said that her Amendment No. 20 was in the wrong place. I maintain that it is still in the wrong place. It is between a chapter on local authorities and one on employers. The right place to put this amendment is before Clause 60, which is about careers education. However, the noble Baroness persists in putting it early on, which leads us to discuss careers education now. I supported her then, and I support her now, in maintaining that there is much to be improved in the information, advice and guidance given to young people and the careers education they are given in schools. I know that the Government are doing their best at that and have increased the amount of money going to Connexions so that it can improve its service. I hope that that is so because it is important that young people in primary schools are given access to knowledge about careers and begin to think about what careers they might pursue at a later stage. Of course, children often change what they want to do, but it is extremely important to get them thinking about jobs and what they involve. Good careers education, particularly in the lower half of secondary school, is vital. On Amendment No. 67, the noble Baroness, Lady Verma, quoted me saying that face-to-face interviews are important. We cannot rely just on information, advice and guidance through the internet or over the telephone. The interview with the careers adviser at the appropriate point in school is vital. We cannot do away with careers advisers in schools; a specifically trained Connexions careers adviser is vital. There is no reason why teachers should not provide careers education, but they must be given training. If we are going to use general teachers, they should have specific CPD training on careers education. Many of them do not know about issues outside. Amendment No. 67 is concerned with getting specific information about particular careers and talking to people who are pursuing them about what they involve. I mentioned last time, and I shall mention again, the website horsesmouth.co.uk. Another website called Vitae is being developed by the Cambridge-based Careers Research and Advisory Centre. It involves people who practise particular careers talking about what they do. In that sense, an internet exchange is quite useful. Horsesmouth.co.uk is interactive, so a young person can ask questions of the person who has pursued a career. Amendment No. 68, a little amendment in my name and the names of my noble friends Lady Walmsley and Lady Garden, seeks to put right what seems an anomaly. Sections 43 to 45 of the Education Act 1997 give the Secretary of State the right to extend by regulation the scope of careers education and guidance. The Secretary of State has used the powers in Section 45B to extend the scope of careers education to primary schools and lower year groups in secondary schools, but it does not apply to those aged 16 and over—precisely the 16 and 17 year-olds whom this legislation catches. It is an anomaly. In responding to an amendment that I tabled in Committee, the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, said that it did not matter as those young people get it anyhow. If I may say so, that was not a good enough response. If there is a duty on schools to provide careers education and information, advice and guidance on careers, it is appropriate that the duty should include those aged 16 or 17. Our simple little amendment provides that the Minister may by regulations extend that provision—it is only by regulation that the Minister has to operate—and makes good that anomaly.