Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to implement recommendation 8 of the report Growing up North, published by the Children's Commissioner in March 2018.

Recommendation 8 of the report ‘Growing up North’ stated that Local Enterprise Partnerships need to expand their programmes to bring employers and schools together to widen children’s horizons and open up job prospects.

Local Enterprise Partnerships have an important role in skills and education. They are working closely with The Careers & Enterprise Company to co-fund a network of Enterprise Co-ordinators and volunteer Enterprise Advisers. The network helps secondary schools and colleges in England to improve their careers and enterprise provision and to make links with employers so that more young people benefit from encounters with the world of work. There are now over 2,000 Enterprise Advisers in the network.

Our careers strategy says that by 2020, all secondary schools and colleges will have access to an Enterprise Adviser. We have also announced a new £5 million fund to help disadvantaged pupils to get the additional support they need to prepare for work, including opportunities for mentoring and guidance.

More information can be found on The Careers & Enterprise Company’s website: https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/.