Minister for Children, Young People and Families Beverley Hughes MP has answered some key questions on the future of Careers Education and Guidance in an interview for the next issue of Career Guidance Today.
I would urge all members, particulalry those working in England to read through these respnses when they arrive with you in July and respond via Your feedback will be formulated and presented to the Minister.
Among the questions posed were:
How will the Secretary of State's duties outlined in the 1973 and 1993 Employment Acts in relation to career guidance, be enforced in the new local structures and what specific measures will be implemented to ensure all young people have access to impartial and expert career guidance.
Would the government consider an all-age guidance service similar to that which works so successfully in Scotland and Wales ? If not, why not?
Do you consider it appropriate for teachers and other staff to be delivering careers guidance in schools, especially where they have not undertaken any training and have no professional knowledge or experience of today's labour market?
Will the Government be taking responsibility for career guidance out of the Connexions Service and re-establishing it as a distinct service in its own right?
In 2000, the Education Secretary David Blunkett said: "We intend to expand, not contract, the role of the careers service, including careers education, to ensure that all young people at school receive the support and help that they need and to ensure that, in the transition, we target those at greatest risk, which makes sense to everyone." Do you feel that the focus on young people in the NEET group has meant that other young people do not get the support and help they need?
Keep your eye on the next issue of CGT for all the answers. | 
