Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many publicly-funded schools have complied with the obligation introduced with effect from 1 September 2018 to publish (1) details about the careers programme they deliver to pupils from Year 8 until Year 13, and (2) contact details for their careers leader; when they intend to review the information published by those schools; and how they measure the success of careers programmes in schools.

The department has published statutory guidance that explains what schools must do to comply with the new duty to publish information about the careers programme and to name their careers leader and contact details on their website from September 2018. The guidance, which is attached, is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/careers-guidance-provision-for-young-people-in-schools.

Information about the number of schools that are compliant with the statutory guidance is not held centrally.

The success of careers programmes in schools is monitored through the progress that schools and colleges are making against the Gatsby Benchmarks of Good Career Guidance. The Careers & Enterprise Company publish an annual ‘State of the nation’ report showing this progress. The attached 2017-18 report, published in November 2018, shows that the average school or college is now fully achieving 2.13 Benchmarks.

We expect the support that we are putting in place, including Careers Hubs and Careers Leader training, to result in significant progress over the next twelve months. Ofsted also takes account of this statutory guidance when developing its approach to assessing careers provision. Ofsted’s current school inspection handbook, which is attached, sets out that inspectors take into account careers guidance provided by secondary schools when making their judgement on the personal development, behaviour and welfare of pupils.