§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will ensure that the ConneXions Service will be available to all 13 to 19-year-olds and that the level of support available to young people will not be less than that provided by the Careers Service at present. [117780]
§ Mr. WicksConneXions will provide a major new integrated advice, guidance and support for young people. It will be a universal service which will improve the level of support for all young people aged 13–19.
ConneXions will continue to offer at least the same level of careers information, advice and guidance as is currently provided by the Careers Service.
§ Mrs. Curtis-ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how he will ensure that the knowledge and experience developed by career guidance practitioners will be used by the ConneXions Service. [117779]
§ Mr. WicksThe ConneXions Service will offer at least the same level of careers information, advice and guidance for 13 to 19-year-olds as is currently provided by the Careers Service. But in order to remove the significant barriers to learning that many young people face, careers information, advice and guidance needs to be extended to cover matters relating to social welfare, criminal justice and health, in addition to vocational issues.
44WThe majority of Personal Advisers in the first phase of implementation will be drawn from existing careers and Youth Service practitioners. Over time the ConneXions training programme will ensure that all Personal Advisers are professionally qualified in all relevant aspects of information, advice and guidance to agreed standards for the profession.
A major training programme for Personal Adviser will be developed and the DfEE will shortly be consulting on the professional framework for this new profession.