Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of career advice and work experience services provided to young people by local authorities.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Local authorities do not have direct responsibility for providing careers advice and work experience to young people. Responsibility was devolved to schools in 2012, when they were given a legal duty to secure independent careers guidance for years 8-13 pupils. Statutory guidance underpins this duty and makes clear that schools should offer work placements, work experience and other employer-based activities as part of their careers programme.
The Government has established The Careers & Enterprise Company to improve opportunities for young people to learn about the world of work. There are now 2,019 Enterprise Advisers appointed in the Company’s Enterprise Adviser Network, connecting with just under 2,000 schools and colleges to improve young people’s, careers and enterprise strategies and engagement with employers.
Local councils continue to play an important role in supporting young people to participate in education or training. They ensure that 16 and 17 year olds have agreed post-16 plans and have received an offer of a suitable place in post-16 education or training under the ‘September Guarantee’, and that they are assisted to take up a place. Schools work closely with local councils to identify those at risk of not participating post-16.
We will publish a careers strategy this year, with a clear focus on social mobility. We have worked with a number of external partners, including the Local Government Association, to examine best practice and develop proposals to improve the quality and coverage of careers guidance.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment have they made of the recently published <i>State of the nation 2016</i> report by the Social Mobility Commission.
Answered by Lord Nash
We welcome the Commission’s report, published last week. It is a wide ranging, valuable piece of work that draws out some important findings.
The Commission’s approach to social mobility is in line with work going on in the Department: looking at the opportunities of a group beyond the most disadvantaged; solidly focusing on areas of the country which are falling behind; and addressing wider obstacles to opportunity, like the need for high quality advice. Officials are engaging with the Commission’s findings as part of this wider work programme.
Opportunity Areas, launched last month, will be the vanguard of our approach to social mobility in areas where there are the greatest challenges and the fewest opportunities and will benefit from our energy, ideas and resources to address the barriers to social mobility. These areas are all social mobility coldspots identified by the Commission.
The Commission points out that the barriers to social mobility will not be fixed overnight. It will require long term effort from the Government, business, civil society and communities to ensure that talent and hard work leads to success, wherever you live or whatever your background.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the decision in the Ashers Bakery appeal, whether they intend to speak to the First Minister and the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland on the issues raised in that case.
Answered by Lord Nash
The judgment in the Ashers Bakery appeal was made in accordance with the equality law that is in force in Northern Ireland rather than the Equality Act 2010 which applies in the rest of the UK. Any consideration of the issues raised in that case is therefore a matter for the Northern Ireland Assembly in the first instance.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of their plans to make all schools convert to academy status, what will be the status of the National Curriculum after those conversions.
Answered by Lord Nash
In 2014, we introduced a new, more ambitious national curriculum which was developed to reflect the views of subject experts and teachers and the findings of international best practice comparisons.
An academised system means that the national curriculum will become a benchmark. It will serve an important role in setting out the level of knowledge-based, ambitious, academically rigorous education which every child should experience.
If autonomous academies or multi-academy trusts (MATs) wish to deliver the national curriculum in their schools, they can do so confidently. We want academies to use their freedom to innovate and build more stretching curricula to meet the needs of their pupils or their local area or the particular ethos of the school.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to bring equalities legislation in Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Equal opportunities is devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly and therefore the Government has no legislative competence in this area.
Asked by: Lord Kennedy of Southwark (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support they provide to local authorities who want to make greater use of school premises for the benefit of the community outside school times.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Education Act 2002 gives school governing bodies the power to run community services without the need to consult or obtain permission from local authorities. Schools have the freedom to use their estates for community facilities and can provide integrated services such as health services, childcare or adult education and work in partnership with other providers as a resource for the whole community. We do not provide support for local authorities as this is a matter for schools.