Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what (a) careers advice and (a) guidance his Department has made available for pupils with special educational needs and disability in schools in Coventry.

Schools are responsible for making sure that their pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), receive independent careers advice and guidance. To help schools do this, the government’s careers strategy, published in December 2017, contains a number of proposals to improve careers advice for pupils with SEND. These activities will help young people across England, including in schools in Coventry:

• Funding for the Education and Training Foundation to provide professional development for practitioners working with young people with additional needs.
• 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.
• A toolkit for schools and colleges by The Careers & Enterprise Company and the Gatsby Foundation.
• Training for Enterprise Advisers (senior volunteers from business who support schools with their careers programme) so they are confident helping people with SEND.

We will also be funding grants later this year to establish good practice in innovative ways of working with young people with SEND and their parents. More details about the funding available can be found in the prospectus on The Careers & Enterprise Company’s website at: https://www.careersandenterprise.co.uk/sites/default/files/uploaded/cef2018_prospectus.pdf.