Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of provision of work experience and careers advice in secondary education in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield, and (c) England.

The department recognises that activities involving employers, such as careers insights, mentoring, work tasters and work experience, provide opportunities that are essential for young people to test out different careers, improve their skills and show their commitment and enthusiasm.

Through the Careers and Enterprise Company, we continue to support schools and colleges to provide young people with access to meaningful experiences of the workplace, and the evidence suggests this is working. Careers Hubs are accelerating improvements in careers education and guidance, in line with the Gatsby Benchmarks, which together define what good career guidance looks like. Schools and colleges that have been part of Careers Hubs for the longest achieved 4.8 Gatsby Benchmarks on average, compared with 3.8 for schools and colleges not in a Careers Hub. More than 2,260 (45%) of schools and colleges are part of a Careers Hub.

In September 2021, four Careers Hubs were launched across London to support over 300 schools and colleges across the capital to give young Londoners a head start in finding their next best steps and planning their futures. We know nine schools and colleges across the Borough of Enfield are part of a Careers Hub this year and six of these are in the Enfield North constituency.