The government has snubbed former Cabinet minister Alan Milburn's call to devolve funding for careers advice from Connexions to schools.
Connexions PA and young person. Credit: Stefan Hill
But this week's long-awaited information, advice and guidance (IAG) strategy states it will consider such action if services do not improve.
Its document, Quality, Choice and Aspiration: A Strategy for Young People's Information, Advice and Guidance, states: "Local services are now on notice to improve and if improvement is not forthcoming we will not hesitate to take further action." Local authorities' delivery of IAG will be reviewed formally in 18 months time, it states.
Milburn's recommendation came in this summer's report on social mobility, in which he slammed the quality of Connexions. However, the IAG strategy acknowledges many services are, according to Ofsted, delivering good advice, and says some schools' IAG provision "is not impartial or is simply dull and ineffective". It also states that transferring responsibility for careers advice now would disrupt efforts to integrate youth provision during a time of heightened turbulence, as councils prepare also to take responsibility for 16 to 19 funding.
Reacting to the announcement, Central London Connexions chief executive Chris Heaume said: "Connexions has never been shy of strong performance management. It will enable us to see what we are and aren't doing well. This will focus and galvanise people."
In a bid to boost the IAG workforce, the strategy announced the launch of a Taskforce on the Careers Profession. This will examine what employers, the profession and government can do to attract well-qualified people from a range of backgrounds. There is also a skills review under way to investigate the requirements of careers specialists, being undertaken by the Children's Workforce Development Council and Lifelong Learning UK. It will report in the spring, feeding into the careers taskforce, which reports back in the summer.
Alongside the IAG strategy, the Department for Children, Schools and Families issued schools with statutory guidance to help meet their duty to provide impartial careers advice.
However, one observer said the IAG strategy "sounds like a bit of a holding operation to last until the general election".
Well said Mike Sutton.
What Milburn omits to mention is that we in Connexions are delivering exactly what the Government,(of which he was a minister at the time) wanted us to do.
He also bases his findings on a survey of 500 people, many of which are not the usual Connexions cohort and ignores a totally authoritative 50,000+ survey by BMRB which completely contradicts his findings and says that we do a good job.
'Lies, damn lies and statistics' eh Alan?
Nothing like creating the facts to make your point.
I cannot comment on Connexions nationally but know that in my corner of the North West, we offer a great service and I see all my Y11's at least once so that I know that they are ready to move on to to a positive outcome.
Mr Balls states that he wants careers advice and guidance to be 'relevant and give them informed opinions'.
I have worked as an Education P.A for nine years and have never, repeat never, met any other P.A who was not totally committed to offering impartial, relevant and timely advice to out clients.
If nationally, the percentage of pupils seen is not as high as it should be, then that is a funding issue. I know that in my previous job as a P.A, I used to work in three Schools for one day per week. As such, I could only 'scratch the surface' of the cohort and not guarantee to see everyone. This is unacceptable but then that is thegovernment's fault in underfunding. If you want a better service Mr Balls/Milburn/Gove - fund it!
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