Question to the Department for Education:

What plans his Department has to help secondary school pupils choose tertiary education courses informed by the (a) salaries and (b) employment rates of people completing those courses.

The National Careers Service website provides robust national labour market information (LMI), including average earnings and typical work hours, for individual occupations. In the Skills for Jobs white paper we set out the ambition that the National Careers Service website will be updated to become a single source of government-assured careers information for young people and adults. The revamped website will include improved and updated labour market information. We will bring together all the learning and careers routes available to people, along with improved content on work experience, the job market, and applying for roles.

We published updated statutory guidance for schools and colleges in July 2021. This includes a reminder to schools of their obligation to inform students when courses they are considering lead to poor career outcomes.

We are working closely with our partners to develop the best approach to making localised LMI available to schools and colleges. The Careers & Enterprise Company is working with local partners, including Skills Advisory Panels, Local Enterprise Partnerships, and Mayoral Combined Authorities to develop a greater understanding of local skills needs and disseminate LMI to schools and colleges. This includes promoting the use of the National Careers Service website and encouraging Careers Leaders to interpret labour market data for their students.