Education and Skills Bill

The noble Baroness, Lady Verma, wishes to probe on the range of advice and guidance to be provided. I can give her a full description by pointing her toward the comprehensive new quality standards for information, advice and guidance which, over 17 pages, set out in detail the information, advice and guidance that all young people should expect to receive. These new standards will form a key part of the statutory guidance made under Clause 54. I am happy to circulate copies for Members of the Committee to examine. Amendment No. 172 would make it explicit that the local authority must provide, "““generic information, advice and guidance, and … targeted support””" for individuals. That is set out in the quality standards. We also intend to emphasise their position as a core function of Connexions services through the directions that we propose to issue under Clause 55. Amendment No. 170 would require that Connexions services should be, "““appropriate to the needs of the young person, including those … with special educational needs””." The noble Baroness, Lady Perry, also raised that issue. Clause 63 provides that, "““a local education authority is responsible for any young person””," who needs a service in that area. That includes those with special needs, and for those young people the duty extends up to age 25. Transferring the responsibility for Connexions to local authorities will enable them to better join up services that support young people with learning difficulties and to share knowledge and specialist resources. In addition, standard 4.8 of the new quality standards to which I referred a moment ago says that, "““additional and sustained guidance and support is provided to those young people who have specific needs (e.g. those with special needs/learning difficulties and/or disabilities, Looked After Children, those with caring responsibilities)””." The group of particular concern to the noble Baronesses is therefore specifically highlighted in the new Quality Standards for Young People's Information, Advice and Guidance. Amendment No. 171, in the name of the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, would require that young people who need it receive, "““individual support and guidance in order to comply with section 2””." As we have discussed before, it is essential to the success of the Bill that this support is available, and I can reassure the noble Baroness that a number of clauses already provide for it. Clause 10 requires authorities to ““promote the effective participation”” of young people ““in education or training””, while Clause 39(5) requires them to take, "““all reasonable steps to secure that relevant support is offered””" to the young person before an attendance notice can be issued. Clause 54 requires them to ““encourage, enable or assist”” their, "““effective participation in education or training””." We realise the importance of that support, which is why we have published the new quality standards and doubled the investment in the Connexions services to £468 million in 2008-09, compared with the level that the former Careers Service received. We are therefore transferring the service to local authorities, which are best placed to join up and integrate all local services supporting young people, as that will ensure better targeting of individuals’ needs and should provide greater efficiencies and free up more resources for the front-line. Amendment No. 171 goes on to require that ““support and guidance”” are available to all young people until age 25 or until the person, "““makes it clear that they no longer wish””" to receive the service. Connexions services, as Clause 63 states, already provide such support to people with learning difficulties up to their 25th birthday, but apart from those who require an extended transition period because of a learning difficulty, we are unconvinced that most young people, as they approach 20, want the same service as a teenager. We believe that they want an adult service, and that is what the Bill provides. The adult Careers Service is available for all people aged 20 and over and, as we discussed in the previous Committee sitting, the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills has announced that it will introduce a new adult advancement and careers service from 2010-11, which will merge the existing adult Careers Service and work closely with Jobcentre Plus. In addition, Jobcentre Plus provides the New Deal for Young People for 18 to 24 year-olds, which offers support and helps them take stock of their skills and experience and then build on those to create better opportunities for work. The service is available to all young people with a history of being not in employment, education or training. With the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, the Department for Children, Schools and Families will be developing an all-age strategy for career advice to ensure that transitions between services are joined up. Amendment No. 175, tabled by the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, enables the power to direct to specify that these services must comply with the duties placed on local authorities by Sections 8 to 10 of the Employment and Training Act 1973 and by Section 44 of the Education Act 1997. I shall take those references one by one. Section 10 of the Education and Training Act 1973 allows the Secretary of State to make arrangements with local authorities to carry out careers service functions and gives him the power to direct authorities in such matters. I can confirm that the power to make arrangements with local authorities for the delivery of careers service functions was used by the Secretary of State on 25 March this year. The relevant letter was sent to members of the Public Bill Committee prior to Report in another place and copied to Front-Bench spokespeople in both Houses. In addition, we already have a power to issue directions on this matter and will use it if it is deemed necessary. The amendment goes on to mention Section 44 of the Education Act 1997, which places a duty on schools and colleges to provide access to careers advisers from the Careers Service provided under arrangements made under Section 10 of the Employment and Training Act. Again, that is not necessary, as personal advisers from the Connexions service already have the power to access schools and other educational institutions under Clause 58 of the Bill. I hope that that reassures the noble Baroness in respect of those other legislative references. The noble Baroness’s Amendment No. 174 provides that directions, as in Clause 55, shall be issued by the Secretary of State. I hope she will agree, from what I have already said, that we regard these directions as most important to the success of Connexions. We will consult formally on the content of directions when the Bill receives Royal Assent, taking careful account of the views expressed in the debates in your Lordships’ House.