Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to improve careers advice for pupils with special educational needs.

The government’s careers strategy, published in December 2017, sets out a long-term plan to build a careers system that will help young people and adults choose the career that is right for them.

The careers strategy contains a number of proposals to improve careers advice for pupils with special educational needs, including:

• A good practice guide for schools and colleges by The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) and the Gatsby Foundation.
• Funding for the Education and Training Foundation to provide professional development for practitioners working with these young people.
• Funding for training and materials for post-16 providers to help them design and tailor study programmes which offer a pathway to employment for these learners.
• Training for Enterprise Advisers (senior volunteers from business who support schools with their careers programme) so they are confident helping people with special educational needs and disabilities.

Later this year we will be funding grants to establish good practice in innovative ways of working with young people with special educational needs and their parents to inspire them to look at a broader range of careers and further education options.