Recommendation 29

HM Government Accepted

The strengthened provider access legislation, which came into force on 1 January 2023, is an important means of ensuring that young people understand all available routes at key transition points. By meeting providers of apprenticeships and wider technical education options such as T Levels and Higher Technical Qualifications, young people can make informed choices about their next step. The Department agrees that it is important to monitor the impact of the provider access legislation. We are working with the CEC to support schools to understand, deliver and record compliance with the new legislation as part of their wider careers programmes. The CEC has added questions to the Compass digital tool to allow schools to record compliance with the new legislation. This data also helps the CEC to manage support needs effectively. The Careers Hub infrastructure is working closely with schools and providers to support them in meeting the new requirements and in particular reviewing where schools are not yet complying with the legislation. Every school and provider in England can access support through the CEC resource directory including templates, guidance on how to maximise encounters, and examples of effective practice. The Department has introduced a ladder of support and intervention, set out in our careers statutory guidance (p52), to enforce the provider access legislation more effectively and to set out clear steps for tackling serious or persistent cases of non-compliance. The CEC provides headline data to the Department on a quarterly basis to help identify challenging areas and barriers to compliance. The CEC has also set up a single place for providers to register a concern if they have reason to believe that a school is not complying with provider access legislation. Data shows clear improvements in compliance and, while there have been lots of requests for clarification and support, there have not been any concerns registered by providers to date through the CEC’s website. We will continue to monitor the impact of the legislative changes in 2023/24, the first full academic year that the strengthened legislation has been in place. Ofsted’s school inspection handbook was updated in 2021 to make clear that if a school is not meeting the requirements of the provider access legislation, inspectors will state this in the inspection report, and take this into account when arriving at a judgement about personal development. Ofsted’s thematic review has examined the implementation of provider access legislation in schools. The full report will be published in autumn 2023.