Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

I shall speak to Amendment 68 in my name. The Government continually refer in their statutory guidance to impartial careers education as the solution to the current lack of impartiality in schools and the information that they receive. Many noble Lords have already spoken about this today, but the strength of argument needs to be reinforced. Under the Education and Skills Act 2008, schools are required to provide impartial advice which promotes the best interests of pupils and to do so with regard to the guidance issued by the Secretary of State. The guidance is now out for consultation, as we heard at Second Reading. In the proposed statutory guidance there are eight principles of impartial careers guidance: being comprehensive; challenging stereotypes; helping young people to progress; being responsive to the needs of the learner; being integrated into all parts of the school curriculum; empowering the young person; raising aspirations; and encouraging young people to use external, independent sources. Apprenticeships are mentioned under the principles, "comprehensive", "use of external sources", including national apprenticeship vacancies and matching services, and "raising aspirations". Young people should understand the benefits of FE, including apprenticeships, and all the other areas that my noble friends have spoken about today. I was pleased to read the Government’s careers education fact sheet and did not feel, unlike my noble friend, that it was intended to change my mind. In fact, I gave it the credence that I thought it deserved by taking each part and looking at what the Government were saying. The fact that the Government acknowledge that it has created a lot of interest underpins the concerns that many people and organisations feel and shows that it was right to raise them. The Bill does not make things clear and people are not comfortable—that is probably an understatement given some of the contributions prior to my speaking. The Government say that they cannot make legislation stronger because that would mean promoting apprenticeships over other options. I do not accept that. Indeed, the new apprenticeships subsection in Section 43 of the Education Act, added by this Bill, makes apprenticeship information look weaker. The Act previously stated that a school must give information that is in the best interests of the student, not of the school or of anyone else. It will now say also that, in thinking about the student’s best interests, a school must consider whether they need to know about apprenticeships. That is so subjective, so unhelpful and so unequal in every way. The provision disappoints me and we should represent the weakness of it in our discussion this evening. However, it means that schools will have to think twice about what "best interests" means. I prefer the clear and more emphatic earlier version. The Education Act is really clear about what is in the best interests of students and that must be the driving element. A worry I have is about how we ensure that the person making the decision about what is in the pupil’s best interests is qualified to do so. Can we be confident about their judgment in all these areas? I accept that the fact sheet is right to say that they must be credible with students, who want advice from teachers who know them well and may know exactly what the best choice is for them. But without the regulation being more explicit in terms of factual information, will these teachers really engage with the alternatives to the academic route, especially as they are unlikely to have experienced that themselves? Not many teachers have also been apprentices. My speech goes on to repeat much of what has already been said. I shall therefore wind up by saying that I am sure the intention in the Bill is very different from the way in which it reads. Many people have said that. I wish that I could speak as eloquently as my noble friend Lady Morris, who said that it is not really about the information but about what schools do with it. It is about how they are supported to use it. Somehow we have to get that into the spirit of the Bill, if nothing else.