Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions his Department has had with relevant stakeholders on steps to improve vocational skills teaching in schools in (a) Hexham constituency, (b) Northumberland, (c) Newcastle, (d) the North East, and (e) England.

The department’s careers framework, the Gatsby Benchmarks, encourages teachers to use industry and career pathways as a context for teaching the national curriculum and qualifications. We also fund the Careers and Enterprise Company to help schools and colleges deliver high quality careers programmes. To boost skills and work readiness, every young person will receive two weeks’ worth of work experience during their secondary education.

Technical awards are the main vocationally focused pre-16 offer and play an important role in supporting a broad curriculum at key stage 4 and progression to post-16 pathways.