Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recent finding by the Association of Accounting Technicians that only 29 per cent of 18 to 24 year olds heard about alternatives to degrees while they were at school; and what steps they are taking to encourage schools to promote such alternatives.

To ensure that young people consider technical options alongside the academic pathway, the government introduced a provider access law in January 2018. This requires all maintained schools and academies to publish a policy statement setting out opportunities for providers of technical education, including apprenticeships, to access year 8-13 pupils, and to make sure that the statement is followed. Through the Skills and Post-16 Education Bill, we are aiming to strengthen the law and create a clear minimum legal requirement for provider encounters.

The government’s careers statutory guidance sets out that all schools and colleges should use the internationally recognised Gatsby Benchmarks to help meet their legal duties and improve their careers provision. In addition to encounters with further and higher education, the Gatsby Benchmarks define other elements of an excellent careers programme, including encounters with employers, experiences of workplaces and personal guidance.

To support this, we are investing £29.6 million to help schools and colleges to improve their careers programmes for young people. This includes £28 million for The Careers and Enterprise Company to deliver support to schools and colleges to implement the Gatsby Benchmarks, including Careers Hubs and Careers Leader training. Young people aged 13 to 18 are able to access ongoing in-depth information, advice and guidance from the National Careers Service via local telephone-based advisers or the National Careers Service website.

Increasing exposure to technical options is vital so that young people can make fully informed choices about their future. New analysis found that uptake of apprenticeships was 16% higher in the schools that provided information on apprenticeships to most or all of their students compared with the schools that provided information to a small minority.