Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he plans to take to improve the performance of secondary schools against Gatsby benchmark number 7.

The Government’s careers strategy states that all schools and colleges should use the 8 Gatsby Benchmarks to develop and improve their careers provision, meeting them all by the end of 2020.

Benchmark 7, ‘Encounters with further and higher education’, expects that all students should understand the full range of educational opportunities that are available to them at both college and university.

The Department is making progress in implementing this benchmark. A new law was introduced in January 2018, requiring secondary schools to make sure that a range of education and training providers have an oppurtunity to talk to pupils in year 8 to year 13 about approved technical education qualifications or apprenticeships. Further information about the new law can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/skills-minister-highlights-new-provider-access-law-for-schools.

The Department has also published new statutory guidance which explains in detail what schools are required to do. The guidance is being promoted to school governors, head teachers and careers leaders through a range of channels.

The statutory guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/careers-guidance-provision-for-young-people-in-schools.