Agenda and minutes

At this point in the meeting, Members are asked to declare:

·        any personal interests not included on the Register of Interests

·        Any prejudicial interests or

·        Any disclosable pecuniary interests

which they may have in respect of business on this agenda.

At this point in the meeting, Members were asked to declare any personal interests not included on the register of interests, any prejudicial interests or disclosable pecuniary interests which they might have had in respect of the business on the agenda.

Councillor D’Agorne declared a personal interest as a careers professional.

To approve and sign the minutes of the meeting held on Monday 18 March 2013.

RESOLVED:       That the minutes of the last meeting of the Committee held on 18 March 2013 be approved, and signed by the Chair as a correct record.

At this point in the meeting, members of the public who have registered their wish to speak on an item on the agenda or an issue within the committee’s remit can do so.

Anyone who wishes to register or who requires further information is requested to contact the Democracy Officers for this meeting, details of whom are listed at the foot of this agenda.

The deadline for registering to speak is 5:00pm the working day before the meeting, in this case 5:00pm on Monday 2 September 2013.

It was reported that there had been no registrations to speak at the meeting under the Council’s Public Participation Scheme.

Members will consider the Draft Final Report of the Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) Scrutiny Review Task Group. They will be asked to agree any further revisions required and identify and agree the draft recommendations arising from the review so they can be included in the draft final report before its presentation to the Learning and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Members considered the Draft Final Report of the Careers Education, Information, Advice and Guidance (CEIAG) Scrutiny Review Task Group.

Copies of  “Careers 2020 Options for Future Careers Work in English Schools,” which had recently been published by The Pearson Think Tank with the International Centre for Guidance Studies, had been circulated.  Consideration was given to the recommendations contained in the report as follows:

1.   Government should be carefully monitoring changing practices and ensuring that schools are providing appropriate career support for young people.

2.   Government should also carefully monitor the impact of any decline in school-based careers work on social mobility and social inclusion.

3.   Schools should be encouraged to conceive careers as a key component of their mission and to actively link this to the curriculum.

4.   Attention should be given to how schools are supported to deliver effective and high quality careers work in the new policy context.

Members supported the recommendations contained in the Pearson Report and agreed that these were in line with the evidence that had been obtained during the scrutiny review.  They did, however, note that there may be difficulties in the practical application of recommendation 2.

Consideration was given to the draft scrutiny report.  The following comments were put forward:

·        Paragraph 27 – whilst it was acknowledged that this was an accurate reflection of the evidence that had been provided, the suggestion that there was high employer demand for apprenticeships in the construction industry and that it was difficult to fill all the training places available seemed counter intuitive.  This was an issue that that the Construction Skills Scrutiny Task Group may wish to consider.

·        Paragraph 16 to be reworded to state that how the free careers advice from the City of York Council was allocated was agreed with the Local Authority and schools based on set criteria.

·        In respect of the work of the Connexions Service, paragraphs 18 and 26 should be cross-referenced.

·        The wording of the report should reflect the need to balance students’ aspirations and high expectations with realism and self-awareness.  There was a need to take a whole curriculum approach, as recognised in the Pearson Report, and to work with partners in careers provision.

·        The report should also highlight the tensions between careers work and the labour market.

·        The format of paragraphs 51-75 to be developed.

·        A recommendation to be included stating that a letter would be sent to the home address of all Year 11 students to make them aware of the services offered at Castlegate.

·        A recommendation to be included as to how access to on-line careers advice, including the national careers website, could be improved.

·        The Cabinet Member be requested to make headteachers, school councils, governing bodies and employers/training organisations aware of the recommendations arising from the review.

·        The scrutiny review report should acknowledge that further recommendations may arise from the Ofsted Report on careers education which was due to be published.

The agreed amendments would be incorporated into the report which would be emailed to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.