Mark Jenkinson, the Member of Parliament for the Workington constituency, is delighted that his Private Members Bill has today passed Committee stage in the House of Commons.
The Education (Careers Guidance in Schools) Bill passed committee stage without any amendments.
At present the statutory duty to provide careers guidance falls on maintained schools, special schools and pupil-referral units but some academies are not included. This landmark piece of legislation will seek to address this anomaly by placing the same requirement on all types of state-funded secondary schools, helping to create a level playing field.
It is also paramount that the advice available to our young people should be consistent, of the highest quality and accessible to everyone. The Bill extends the requirement to provide independent careers advice to year 7 from the current year 8.
The Bill will now be read a third time in the House of Commons on the 14th January 2022, before passing into the House of Lords for their scrutiny.
Mark said: ‘Today we are one step closer to ensuring all of our children in state-funded schools will have access to independent careers advice from year 7. It is important that our young children are given the tools and guidance to forge their chosen career paths. That is why this Bill enjoys cross party support and I look forward to its Royal Assent in due course.’
