Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the work of the Careers and Enterprise Company to help young people into work; and whether her Department plans to provide support to that company in future.

The Government wants to improve careers education and guidance for all ages. We are investing over £70 million this year to support young people and adults to get high quality careers provision.

The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) has made excellent progress to date in several areas, including:

• launching its Enterprise Adviser Network to provide more opportunities for young people to learn about the world of work. To date over 1,800 Enterprise Advisers are working with schools and colleges to support their careers and enterprise strategies and link up with employers.

• an investment fund which is helping proven careers and enterprise activities to reach 250,000 young people, with 75% going to the geographical areas most in need of support.

• providing funding for 39 mentoring programmes that support young people most at risk of not achieving their potential.

We remain committed to working with the CEC in the future and building on the good work carried out to date.