Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department holds information on the number of schools in England that are compliant with the Baker Clause.

The department does not collect data on the number of schools that are compliant with the new duty, introduced on 2 January 2018. This requires the proprietor of all maintained schools and academies to provide the opportunity for a range of education and training providers to access pupils in year 8 to year 13, for the purpose of informing them of approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships.

We are taking a number of steps to make sure that the legislation is properly enforced. Our priority during the spring term is to raise the awareness amongst schools of their responsibilities. We have published new statutory guidance which explains in detail what schools are required to do. We are promoting the guidance to school governors, head teachers and careers leaders through a range of channels.

Ofsted will take account of this statutory guidance when developing its approach to assessing careers provision. Matters relating to careers provision contribute to judgements under three of the four areas evaluated as part of school inspections. When during the course of a school inspection it becomes clear that statutory requirements are not being met, and this is a contributory factor in explaining why pupils are not achieving their potential, it will be considered for inclusion in the inspection report as a key point for improvement. The statutory guidance includes additional information of the department’s approach to cases of suspected non-compliance with the duty and statutory guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/careers-guidance-provision-for-young-people-in-schools.