Press release
Embargoed until 00.01 Hrs, Tuesday 13 September 2011
Young people need the support of careers services now more than ever - Burnham
Labour call opposition day debate on the Tory-led Government to act now to guarantee face-to-face careers advice for young people
Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, said:
“Young people need the support of careers services now more than ever, because of decisions this Tory-led Government has made to scrap the Education Maintenance Allowance, the Future Jobs Fund and to triple tuition fees.
“Life is already much harder and more competitive for this generation, with many young people having to work for free to get their foot on the ladder. More and more, they need to rely on family connections to arrange opportunities.
“Ministers are hopelessly out of touch and are allowing careers services for young people to be destroyed. These services are vital for young people from less well-off and less well-connected backgrounds.
“This Government is stack ing the odds even more against these young people and risking a lost generation – it’s time they listened to their own advisers and stopped the meltdown of the careers services.
“The future of the country rests on the choices that today’s young people make, and the Government must give them concrete and clear guidance on options for education, training or employment.
“Abandoning Britain's youth to the dole doesn't save money - it wastes their talent and wastes money, making it harder to get the deficit down.”
Ends
Editor's notes:
1. With youth unemployment at record levels, Labour is calling on the Government to act now to guarantee face-to-face careers advice for young people. The text of the motion tabled by Labour is:
That this House believes that the Government should act urgently to guarantee face to face careers advice for all young people in schools.
2. The Government’s mismanagement of this policy has been so severe that their own Advisory Group considered resigning and made their concerns public last month. The Tory-chaired Education Select Committee has criticised their actions and their own Advocate for Access to Education, Simon Hughes, has said that the Government should “act urgently to guarantee face to face careers advice for all young people in schools”.
“The government should act urgently to guarantee face to face ca reers advice for all young people in schools.”
Report to the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister from the Advocate for Access to Education, ‘The Hughes Report’, July 2011:
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/default/files/resources/education-advocate-report.pdf
“We recommend that the all age careers service should be funded by the Department for Education for face to face career guidance for young people.”
Education Select Committee report into Participation by 16-19 year olds in education and training, July 2011:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmeduc/850/850i.pdf
3. Labour supported the proposal for an all-age National Careers Service but instead of delivering on this commitment, the Government has cut £200m from careers service and claims that a web and telephone service is sufficient for young people. Alongside the decision to scrap work-related learning, the meltdown of careers services makes clear that this Government is taking our schools backwards not forwards, and failing to think about what young people need to get on in the modern world.
4. UNISON research has revealed that of 144 local authorities that only 15 will maintain what the researchers termed as a "substantial" universal careers service. They identified 12 councils as making extreme cuts to Connexions services and at least 49 as reducing or removing the universal careers element of the Connexions service. At least 105 councils have reduced staffing levels and 50 hav e closed Connexions centres. Over 4000 advisers have lost their jobs.
General Meeting Invitation
Saturday, September 17, 2011 from 3:00 PM - 5:30 PM
ANC London Interim Branch General Meeting
Please join us for the next general meeting of the ANC London Interim Branch. As we approach the celebration of the birth of our beloved leader Oliver Tambo, we call on all members to attend in order to help us design and implement our new programmes which will take our branch forward into the future.
Please RSVP by emailing your details to info@anclb.org.uk
Address Details:
Covent Garden Dragon Hall Trust
17 Stukeley Street
Newton Street Room
London, London WC2B 5LT
