Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department has taken to ensure career guidance has been delivered to secondary schools pupils since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.

We remain committed to supporting young people to access high quality careers guidance during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Through The Careers & Enterprise Company, we continue to work to support schools and colleges to deliver the Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance and increase young people’s exposure to the world of work. There are more than 4000 secondary schools and colleges in the Enterprise Adviser Network working with business volunteers to strengthen links with employers, and over 2200 schools and colleges working together in Careers Hubs to drive improvements in the Gatsby Benchmarks through local collaboration.

We have also provided additional support to schools and colleges since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Through the “My Choices” programme, The Careers & Enterprise Company have developed a collection of resources to support careers leaders in helping young people as they prepare for their next stages of education, employment, or training. This consisted of ‘on-demand’ virtual events, developed in collaboration with Learn Live UK, where young people heard directly from employers and apprenticeship providers about the opportunities available to them. Funding was also provided to Careers Hubs and Local Enterprise Partnerships for an ongoing series of local “My Choices” careers events and specific guides have been made available for Careers Leaders, students, and parents/carers via The Careers & Enterprise Company’s website: https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/schools-colleges/my-choices-transition-resources.

In line with the Gatsby Benchmarks, schools and colleges are expected to provide a personal guidance interview for every student by age 16 and another by age 18. We are working closely with The Careers & Enterprise Company to support schools and colleges to maximise the value and impact of personal guidance interviews. This includes providing resources and practical advice to support the delivery of activity online, by telephone and face to face: https://resources.careersandenterprise.co.uk/resources/careers-context-2020-can-do-guide-career-leaders.

Through the National Careers Service, we continue to offer in-depth information, advice, and guidance for everyone over the age of 13 via telephone-based advisers, web chat or the National Careers Service website. This includes the exam results helpline, which operated between 12 August and 18 September 2020 to ensure that young people who received their exam results last summer got advice from qualified advisers.