3A more co-ordinated approach
33.It was suggested many times to us that the patchy quality of careers provision in schools was being exacerbated by the sheer number of organisations involved, both at a national level and in terms of the bodies delivering careers services. In this Chapter, we will look at the different organisations and consider how to bring a more ordered approach to the way careers provision is delivered in England.
National bodies
Ministerial responsibility
34.Ministerial responsibility for careers information, advice and guidance is divided between two Ministers: Sam Gyimah MP, Parliament Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Education, is responsible for provision up to age 18; Nick Boles MP, Minister for Skills at both the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, for careers advice for adults.54 Mr Boles, in evidence prior to this inquiry, told us that it was sensible to have such a split in responsibilities because his other duties had very little connection to schools whereas “Sam Gyimah, who is the relevant Minister, is able to focus on what is actually happening in schools”.55 We also heard about a range of other Government departments involved in careers provision: we were told that the Cabinet Office, Ministry of Justice, Department for Work and Pensions, Department for Communities and Local Government, and the Home Office, all had some involvement in careers initiatives.56
National Careers Service and Careers & Enterprise Company
35.There are also a number of Government-funded bodies with responsibilities for careers provision. The National Careers Service is funded and managed by the Skills Funding Agency, an executive agency sponsored by BIS. It provides face-to-face, over-the-telephone and online careers services for adults, and telephone and online services to 13–18 year olds.57 It also runs the Inspiration Agenda, an initiative aimed at giving young people more contact with the world of work.58 Alongside the National Careers Services sits the Careers & Enterprise Company, whose creation, as we have seen, was announced by the Secretary of State for Education in December 2014.59 The Company told us that its role was “to take an umbrella view of the landscape of careers and enterprise, supporting programmes that work, filling gaps in provision and ensuring coverage across the country”.60 The Company has launched a number of initiatives, mostly notably an Enterprise Adviser scheme through which volunteers from businesses work with the senior leadership teams of schools to support employer engagement programmes.61
36.Several submissions welcomed the establishment of the Careers & Enterprise Company and its work so far.62 The Gatsby Foundation praised its “dynamism and strong sense of focus, and the speed with which it has mobilised”.63 When we took evidence from Claudia Harris, the Company’s Chief Executive, we too were impressed by how quickly it had got up and running. Others suggested that while the Company had done a lot of work on “enterprise”, for instance brokering links between employers and schools, it had done less to support the provision of impartial and independent careers guidance to young people. The careers guidance company Inspiring Futures said that the careers community did “not see any real commitment to careers information, education, advice and guidance by the Company”.64
37.There were also concerns about the potential for overlap between the work of the Careers & Enterprise Company and that of the National Careers Service.65 Katharine Horler, Chair of the Board of Careers England, told us the National Careers Service’s inspiration agenda was “exactly the same” as the work the Careers & Enterprise Company was doing.66 The Science, Engineering, Manufacturing and Technologies Alliance saw “no real reason for the continued existence of the National Careers Service as a separate entity” and called for it to be subsumed within the Careers & Enterprise Company.67
38.Those running the Careers & Enterprise Company and the National Careers Service insisted that their two organisations fulfilled different roles,68 a point also made by Mr Boles:
The National Careers Service is basically a series of contracts [ … ] It has a single unified website [ … ] but in terms of the provision of direct advice, it is a series of contracts. One of the whole points about the Careers and Enterprise Company was to have a business-led organisation that was in charge of the process of bringing businesses much more into the heart of school life [ … ].69
Jobcentre Plus
39.We were particularly interested to hear about the Jobcentre Plus Support for Schools initiative, launched in January 2016 by the then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Rt Hon Iain Duncan Smith MP, and the Minister for Employment, Rt Hon Priti Patel MP. Through this initiative, “local Jobcentre Plus advisers will offer 12 to 18 year old pupils insight into the world of work and advice on options like traineeships and apprenticeships”.70
40.While some evidence welcomed the Jobcentre Plus initiative and the additional resources it would provide,71 other submissions raised concerns about how it would operate, whether Jobcentre staff were the right people to be delivering careers advice to young people, and the risk that, as yet another body operating in this field, it would lead to further confusion.72 Given the Careers & Enterprise Company’s claim to be an “umbrella organisation”,73 we were surprised when Sam Gyimah told us that the Jobcentre Plus (JCP) initiative would not be operating under the Company’s umbrella.74
41.Indeed, neither Mr Boles nor Mr Gyimah, the Ministers supposedly responsible for careers provision, were able to answer detailed questions about the initiative, referring us instead to Priti Patel. She told us that:
Except where JCP is already engaged with a school through another programme, approaches are being made only though the [Careers & Enterprise Company], Local Enterprise Partnership or another stakeholder to ensure what we offer supplements support already available and does not duplicate or replace it. 75
She nevertheless did not consider the suggestion that the scheme be brought under the closer supervision of the Company to be either “desirable or necessary” and told us that doing so “could stifle local initiatives between schools and JCP and delay provision of support in any particular area until such time as the CEC network is in place”.76
Co-ordination
42.The view of many of our witnesses was that much more needed to be done to co-ordinate careers initiatives at the national level. Professor Tristram Hooley, Professor of Guidance Studies at the University of Derby, said that there “was a desperate need to increase the amount of co-ordination of the myriad of initiatives”. He suggested that while none of these initiatives on their own had “sufficient resources to meet the challenge”, if they were “taken together there is considerable public money invested in this area of activity”.77 Mr Gyimah told us that “the envelope for this Parliament” was £90 million but that the Government had not yet said how exactly how it would be spent:78 we were unclear which initiatives it covered. Professor Sir John Holman suggested that having so many different national organisations and initiatives was unhelpful for schools: he warned that head teachers would
just look at this as a forest of, ‘Oh, it is another initiative.’ It does not fit together for them and they cannot see how they can deliver a particular benchmark through a particular initiative; it just looks like another initiative.79
43.Mr Boles nevertheless sought to assure us that careers initiatives were being co-ordinated across the Government, saying that “those of us who have different responsibilities are constantly talking about what we are doing and co-ordinating it”. He pointed in particular to the Government’s “Earn and Learn” taskforce on which both he and the Minister for Employment sat and which he said met “probably about every six weeks or so”.80
44.In spite of the Minister’s assurances, we are concerned about the number of Government Departments and other publicly-funded organisations involved in careers guidance at the national level and at the growing list of disparate initiatives. Some of these initiatives may well have merit, but the complexity of the picture means they are at risk of becoming counter-productive in terms of a coherent national system of careers provision. Schools should be able to focus on improving their careers provision without grappling to understand which Department or organisation delivers which particular scheme. In addition, a more co-ordinated approach could enable efficiencies to be made through the closer alignment of funding streams. The forthcoming careers strategy offers a much-needed opportunity for consolidation. We recommend that the Government, in its careers strategy, take steps to simplify the delivery of its careers policy at the national level. It should put a single Minister and a single Department in charge of co-ordinating careers provision for all ages, and set out how it plans to rationalise the number of Government-funded organisations delivering careers programmes.
45.We were impressed by what we heard from the Careers & Enterprise Company, and it is clearly making great strides in building links between employers and schools. We were concerned, however, that it had not been given the opportunity to act as the umbrella organisation it purports to be: it should be central to the Government’s efforts to provide a more joined-up approach to careers provision. Alongside its existing work, we would like to see it playing as greater a role in supporting independent and impartial careers guidance. We recommend that all Government-funded careers initiatives, including the Jobcentre Plus support for schools scheme, be brought under the umbrella of the Careers & Enterprise Company. We further recommend that the Government consult on transferring responsibility for the National Careers Service from the Skills Funding Agency to the Careers & Enterprise Company. We also encourage the Careers & Enterprise Company to set out how, in addition to its existing programmes, it plans to support the provision of independent and impartial careers guidance in schools.
The careers guidance market place
46.In addition to this complex national picture, we heard that there was a vast range of companies providing careers education, information, advice and guidance services, creating a very congested market-place. London Councils, an organisation representing local authorities in London, told us that schools and colleges looking to buy-in careers guidance were faced with “a daunting array of products and services”. We were surprised to hear that it had found more than 240 careers providers operating in London. It told us that this was “vastly more activity than any one school can readily keep track of, let alone a young person and/or parent”.81 Katharine Horler told us that it was “a completely unregulated market so anybody can give careers advice” and warned that the absence of regulation made “schools, young people and parents very vulnerable”.82
47.We also heard concerns about the number of careers information websites available for young people to access. Dr Mary Bousted, General Secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said that in preparation for appearing before the Committee she had looked at a number of careers websites and found that “a lot of them are awful”. She said that young people wanting to use them would already have to know what they wanted to do.83 Edge Foundation, a charity promoting technical and professional education, said that navigating careers websites was “hard for a professional—let alone young people and their parents” and asked how they could know which sites to trust. It made the case for a Government-funded “aggregator”, a search engine based on the technology used by price comparison websites, which could draw down information from different websites and allow users to rate its usefulness.84 Joe Billington, Director of the National Careers Service, said that a forthcoming redesign of the NCS’s own website would consider how it could draw on existing web-tools rather than duplicate them.85
Quality standards
48.Within this congested market, quality standards could help to provide assurance about an organisation’s services. Providers of careers services have the opportunity to be accredited through the Government-owned matrix Standard. The Government’s submission told us that this standard:
promotes the delivery of high quality information, advice and/or guidance by ensuring organisations review, evaluate and continuously develop their service; encourage the take up of professionally recognised qualifications and the continuous professional development of their staff.86
The Government’s statutory guidance on careers guidance and inspiration in schools states that schools should take into consideration the quality of independent provision and points to the matrix Standard as a means by which they can ensure services are of a good quality.87
49.Alongside the matrix Standard, there is also the Quality in Careers Standard (QCS), which provides a validation framework for 12 different awards that quality assure careers education, information, advice and guidance in schools, colleges and work-based learning providers. The Government’s statutory guidance “recommends that all schools should work towards a quality award”, and states that the QCS “will assist schools to determine an appropriate quality award to pursue”.88
50.Some evidence suggested that the Government’s statutory guidance should be strengthened: first, to require all careers providers to hold the matrix Standard; and, second, to require, rather than recommend, that all schools work towards a quality award validated by the QCS.89 Graham Stuart MP said that “the simple change from ‘recommends’ to ‘requires’ would change the careers landscape at a stroke” and that it was “the single most important change that could be introduced to improve careers advice for young people in this country”.90
51.In our view, quality awards only work if people are aware of them. They should provide an easy way for parents to judge the effectiveness of a school’s careers provision, for students to know whether a website is giving them trustworthy information, and for schools to establish whether a careers provider delivers good quality services. In this context, we found the existence of both a matrix and a Quality in Careers Standard confusing and considered it to be a potential barrier to wider awareness. The fact that the QCS itself recognises 12 different quality awards only adds to this muddled picture.91 Dr Deirdre Hughes, who chairs the Matrix standard, told us that looking at international evidence about high performing careers provision, one found that it was “one kite mark and one standard that exists”.92
52.Ministers said, rightly, that the two standards performed different roles, but having different criteria for schools and service providers to meet need not preclude the two standards being brought together under a single brand or kite mark that can widely promoted. We support the merger of the Quality in Careers and matrix Standards and recommend that the Government support the establishment and promotion of a single quality brand covering schools, colleges, careers services providers and careers websites, with appropriate criteria for the different types of organisation to meet. As part of this work, it should also encourage the bringing together of the 12 different awards recognised by the Quality in Careers Standard into a single award.
53.We are also persuaded that, once the new quality brand is in place, there should be a strengthening of the statutory guidance. Requiring schools to work towards a quality standard, and taking action against those that fail to do so, would give them a further incentive to focus their efforts on raising the quality of provision. In addition, if they were required to use only service providers holding a standard, they could be assured that their students were getting good quality information, advice and guidance. We recommend that the Government, once the new quality brand is in place, amend statutory guidance to require all schools to work towards being accredited under this brand, and only to use careers services from organisations holding it.
The careers guidance profession
54.Another area in which we received calls for the Government’s statutory guidance to be strengthened related to the professionals delivering careers advice and guidance in schools. Currently, the statutory guidance states that schools “should take into consideration” the quality of careers professionals, noting that “the main qualifications for careers professionals are the Qualification in Career Guidance (QCG) [ … ] and the Level 6 Diploma in Career Guidance and Development”.93 Several submissions supported the view that guidance should only be delivered by suitably qualified practitioners.94 We were told several times, however, that in some schools those delivering the guidance were not properly qualified.95
55.The Career Development Institute, the professional body representing careers guidance providers, called on the Government “to require schools and colleges to use only careers advisers who are professionally qualified in careers guidance, to a minimum of Level 6 and are on the UK Register of Career Development Professionals”.96
56.In our view, if the quality of careers advice and guidance in schools is to improve, it is important that it is delivered by impartial and independent professionals holding the right qualifications. That some schools are not using such professionals is yet another sign that they may not be taking careers provision seriously. We recommend that the Government statutory guidance is amended to require those delivering advice and guidance in schools to hold, at a minimum, a relevant level 6 qualification.
54 Cabinet Office, List of Ministerial Responsibilities, July 2015, pages 14 and 33
55 Evidence taken on 25 January 2016, HC (2015–16) 704, Q49
58 National Careers Service, “Careers inspiration”, accessed 18 May 2015
59 Department for Education, “New careers & enterprise company for schools”, 10 December 2014
61 Careers & Enterprise Company, “Enterprise Adviser Network”, accessed 18 May 2016. See also para 69.
65 See, for example, Adviza (CAD 16), Sheffield City Region Executive Team (CAD 58) paras 5.1 and 5.2
68 Q121 [Joe Billington] and Q122 [Claudia Harris]
69 Q 203
70 Department for Work and Pensions, “Jobcentre Plus support rolled out to schools”, 14 January 2016
71 See, for example, Semta (CAD 59), para 29 and, on the resources being welcome, London Councils (CAD 72) para 4.3. The Department for Work and Pensions told us that £2 million funding was going into the scheme in 2016/17, and £3.6 million in 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20 respectively (CAD 145).
72 See, for example, Gatsby Foundation (CAD 8), Centrepoint (CAD 30), para 14, Careers England (CAD 42), para 3.2, Association of Employment and Learning Providers (CAD 45), para 14
73 Q 122 [Claudia Harris]
74 Q 209
78 Q220
79 Q17
80 Qq200 and 204
82 Q80
83 Q49
85 Q172
87 Department for Education, Careers guidance and inspiration in schools: Statutory guidance for governing bodies, school leaders and school staff, March 2015, para 67
88 Department for Education, Careers guidance and inspiration in schools: Statutory guidance for governing bodies, school leaders and school staff, March 2015, para 67
89 See, for example, Careers England (CAD 42) para 1.1 and, on the QCS, Career Development Institute (CAD 76) para 1.2.
91 See para 49.
92 Q6
93 Department for Education, Careers guidance and inspiration in schools: Statutory guidance for governing bodies, school leaders and school staff, March 2015, para 67. According to the Career Development Institute website, all QCG courses are at level 7.
© Parliamentary copyright 2015
4 July 2016