Issue - meetings

To consider a report of the Strategic Director of Children, Families and Adults.

Prior to inviting the officers to present their report, the Chairman drew the Committee’s attention to the fact that students from the two respective Sandbach secondary schools had been co-opted onto the Committee for this item. He also noted that Mr John Knight, a careers advisor at Sandbach High School was present. They were invited to participate fully in the discussion and the Chairman stated that their involvement would provide an invaluable insight into how careers advice was being delivered in the Borough.

Peter Cavanagh, 14-25 Manager, provided the Committee with an update on Information advice and guidance (IAG) and in particular the Council’s changing role within this landscape. He explained that the Government had passed legislation to amend the responsibility for providing careers guidance to young people, which had previously been provided by Local Authorities via Connexions services. Peter explained that following these legislative changes, from September 2012, schools themselves would be responsible for securing access to independent and impartial careers guidance for pupils in Year 9-11. He also noted that the Government had established a National Careers Service for England which would provide information and guidance to young people through a helpline and website. Within this new framework, schools would be free to make arrangements for careers guidance for young people that fitted the needs and circumstances of their pupils, and would be able to engage, as appropriate, in partnership with external, expert providers.

In terms of the Council’s engagement with careers guidance, it was no longer an expectation that the Council would provide a universal careers service. Rather, the Council’s role would be to fulfil its statutory duty to encourage, enable or assist young people’s participation in education or training, particularly with respect to the Government’s commitment to raise the participation age to 18 by 2015.

Peter reported that the Council also had a responsibility to support vulnerable young people to engage in education and training, intervening early with those who were at risk of disengagement. Peter explained that the Council used the local Client Caseload Information System (CCIS) to record and track progress against a young person’s post 16 plan. The Council was expected to report monthly on participation and this generated the Council’s ‘NEET’ figure.

Building on this latter point, Peter reported that the Council had transferred former Connexions staff into the local authority and that it was these who were being used to target intervention to those school pupils identified as at risk of disengagement.

The Chairman invited the representatives from the Sandbach schools to outline how careers advice was administered in their settings. Mr John Knight from Sandbach High School explained that it was his role to offer a universal careers service to the students. This began at Year 9 when students selected their options and continued through to Year 13. John added that in Year 11, students were given an individual interview to which parents were invited.

The two students from Sandbach School reported that their school did not have a designated  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6