§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Employment what qualifications are accepted by his Department as professional qualifications allowing employment as a careers officer; and in what circumstances individuals who do not hold such qualifications are allowed to take up such employment.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonGuidance issued to local education authorities under the Employment and Training Act 1973 states that authorities should make arrangements to enable newly recruited careers officers performing vocational guidance functions in schools and colleges to obtain the diploma in careers guidance within a reasonable period of time, unless they either already hold the diploma or an equivalent qualification approved by the Local Government Training Board or have previous service as a careers officer with a local education authority or the Department of Employment before 1 January 1982.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Employment what plans he has to improve provision for the in-service training of employment assistants to enable them to gain professional qualifications in careers guidance.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThis is a matter for local education authorities.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Employment what are his plans for the future role of the careers service; how these plans will affect the manpower and resource requirements of the Service; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe Government will continue vigorously to pursue, in conjunction with local education authorities in England and Wales and education authorities in Scotland, their responsibilities for the effectiveness and efficiency of the careers service.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Employment what is the average case load of an employment assistant employed by the careers service.
Mr. Peter Morrison: The information is not available. Employment assistants carry out a number of tasks which vary from authority to authority and they do not normally have a personal case load of young people.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Employment (1) what information he has concerning the number and location of places currently available on block-release courses to enable employment assistants to qualify as careers officers without ceasing their employment;
(2) what information he has concerning the number of employment assistants employed in the careers service in 18W each region who were able to gain professional qualifications in careers advice without terminating their employment in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe information is not readily available.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will give a breakdown by region of the numbers of employees of careers services who are (a) specialist careers officers, (b) careers officers and (c) employment assistants.
§ Mr. Peter MorrisonThe most recent information is set out in the following table.
Regular careers service—number in post as at 1 October 1984 Unemployment specialist careers officers and employment assistants funded by the Department of Employment. Number in post as at 18 October 1984 Careers officers Support staff* Careers officers Employment assistants London 518½ 416 39½ 34½ South East 6l7½ 537 76 73 South West 228 196¼ 42 36 Midlands 577½ 470¾ 113 110½ Northern 196 177½ 62 62 North West 432¼ 318 105 97½ Yorkshire and Humberside 306½ 236½ 77½ 76½ Note: Part-time staff have been added together to the nearest whole number where possible. * Separate figures for employment assistants are not readily available.