The Education and Skills Bill was published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families on 29 November 2007 and contains proposals which mainly relate to England but there are sections which apply to Wales and Northern Ireland.

Although most of the publicity about the Bill has been about the planned raising of the leaving learning age there are a number of key issues which are of concern to the career education and guidance sector.

The Institute has been working with other organisations in the sector to identify and comment on these key issues in the Bill and to lobby Ministers, politicians and others accordingly. Written evidence has been submitted to the Education and Skills Bill Committee and ICG Immediate Past President Kieran Gordon appeared as a Committee witness.

The Bill is now at the House of Lords Committee stage. The ICG has been working closely with Careers England in lobbying politicians of all parties. In the latest development Kieran Gordon met with Baroness Morris of Bolton and Baroness Verma of Leicester - the Conservative leads on DCSF and DIUS in the House of Lords- to brief them on the ICG concerns as outlined in our joint paper prepared earlier this year (see below). Careers England have also been working with Liberal Democrat peers.

As a result of this lobbying a number of amendments to the Bill are being tabled including:
· A proposal for an independent review of the effectiveness of careers advice arrangements in England and the appropriateness of a single all age service as established in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland
· Definitions of 'services' to be provided by local authorities as ' provide advice in relation to careers, education and training'
· Specifications that the services provided are as defined in previous legislation

A full list of the amendments being tabled can be downloaded by clicking here.

The Lords Committee stage will continue on 14 and 17 July at which stage we will know the final content of the legislation being proposed.

Individual members of the Institute can also speak to their MP about any concerns they have.

Useful Information

The Bill and a set of notes explaining each clause can be found on the relevant section of the Parliament website. You will also find transcripts of the proceedings of the Education and Skills Committee (including witness sessions) plus all the written evidence submitted by various organisations. The information can be accessed by clicking here.

The ICG (in collaboration with ACEG, Careers England, the National Association of Connexions Partners and the Inspiring Futures Foundation) have produced a commentary on key aspects of the Bill; it has been sent to all the ICG key stakeholders in England. You can find the commentary document by clicking here.

Key points from each section of the Bill are avaialble here.

Sample quotes from the evidence submiited to the Committee is available here.

Current members of the Committee reviewing the Bill are;

- John Bercow (Buckingham) Joint Chair
- Hugh Bayley (City of York) Joint Chair
- Sarah McCarthy-Fry (Portsmouth N)
- Gordon Marsden (Blackpool S)
- Madeleine Moon (Bridgend)
- Sir Peter Soulsby (Leicester S)
- Charles Walker (Broxbourne)
- Angela Watkinson (Upminster)
- Stephen Williams (Bristol W)
- Phil Wilson (Sedgefield)
- Celia Barlow (Hove)
- Michael Foster (Worcester)
- Nick Gibb (Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)
- Nia Griffiths (Llanelli)
- John Hayes (South Holland and the Deepings)
- Oliver Heald (NE Hertfordshire)
- Jim Knight (S Dorset)
- David Lammy (Tottenham)
- David Laws (Yeovil)