Statement on the future delivery of Careers Services

Date of decision / Dyddiad y penderfyniad:

25 June 2012

Statement of information / Datganiad gwybodaeth:

Careers information advice and guidance services are currently offered to school and further education students as well as to young people not undertaking an educational course and adults. In 2012-13 these services are delivered through a single national contract with Career Choices Dewis Gyrfa (CCDG). CCDG is a company limited by guarantee which has been formed by, and now owns, the six Careers Wales companies that previously delivered in specific operational areas within Wales.

On 28 January 2010 the Minister for Children, Education and Lifelong Learning (now the Minister for Education and Skills) announced his intention to reorganise delivery of careers services so that these are provided through a single unified structure. This intention is strongly aligned with the recommendations contained in the independent reviews of careers services undertaken in 2009 and 2010, Careers Wales – A Review in an International Perspective; and Future Ambitions: developing careers services in Wales.
Ministers have considered options for the future delivery of careers services in Wales from April 2013 following a due diligence review of the careers companies and have provided an update to the National Assembly for Wales on their decisions.

Sections 8 and 9 of the Employment and Training Act 1973 (“ETA”) provide the Welsh Ministers with functions (powers and duties) in relation to the provision of a Careers Service in Wales.  Section 71 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 allows the Welsh Ministers to do anything conducive or incidental to any of their other functions, such as sections 8 and 9 of ETA.  Section 10 of the ETA 1973 provides that the Welsh Ministers may make arrangements with other persons to provide these services. As such, the combination of the above powers provides a sufficient statutory basis to proceed with the recommendations set out at paragraph 3. Those powers are powers of the Welsh Ministers.

Section 2 of the Employment and Training Act 1973 (ETA) provides that the Welsh Ministers, concurrently with the Secretary of State, shall make such arrangements as they consider appropriate for the purpose of assisting persons to select, train for, obtain and retain employment suitable for their ages and capacities or of assisting persons to obtain suitable employees (including partners and other business associates) save that the functions exercisable by the Welsh Ministers under section 2 shall not include the function of making arrangements for the principal purpose of helping all those (as distinct from a particular section of the population of Wales) without work to find employment and to help employers to fill vacancies, or any function ancillary to that function.

Other relevant functions include:

(i) under section 33 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000 (LSA), the Welsh Ministers must encourage individuals to undergo post-16 education (other than higher education) and training. Under section 40 of the LSA the Welsh Ministers must establish systems for collecting information which is designed to secure that their decisions with regard to education and training are made on a sound basis;

(ii) under section 12 of the Industrial Development Act 1982,  the Welsh Ministers (exercisable concurrently with the Secretary of State) may make grants or loans to any person to assist in encouraging young people and others to take up careers in industry and to pursue appropriate educational courses;

(iii) under section 14 Education Act 2002, the Welsh Ministers have power to give financial assistance to any person in connection with certain purposes, two of which are the provision of educational services and the promotion of learning.  "Educational services" includes advisory information services related to education.  "Education" does not include HE;

(iv) under sections 70 and 71 of the Government of Wales Act 2006, the Welsh Ministers may:
give financial assistance to any person engaged in any activity which the Welsh Ministers consider will secure, or help to secure, the attainment of any objective which they aim to attain in the exercise of any of their functions and may attach conditions to the giving of financial assistance by them; and do anything which is calculated to facilitate, or is conducive or incidental to, the exercise of any of their other functions.