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Education and Skills Bill

moved Amendment No. 195: 195: Clause 66, page 38, line 25, at end insert ““, and ( ) any such advice and information should not be limited on grounds of disability, gender, sexual orientation, race and religion or belief, and ( ) any such advice should be accompanied by an offer of a work experience placement in a non-traditional sector, details of which will be specified in regulations made by the Secretary of State.””;”” The noble Baroness said: This is a probing amendment suggested by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Its purpose is to encourage debate on, and awareness of, the need to improve and broaden careers advice and to challenge continuing stereotypes regarding gender, disability, race and the other areas covered by the commission. By making this amendment to the Bill, we would, at the same time, promote equality of opportunity in its broadest sense. Currently, some careers advice continues to make assumptions about the expectations and abilities of certain groups of young people and, as a result, directs them into work that is often low-paid and of a low status. Can the Minister explain how this will be dealt with in the guidance that is being developed at present, and can he give a commitment that work with the Equality and Human Rights Commission on this will continue until the guidance is complete? The Government’s welcome aim in raising the school leaving age to 18 will, it is hoped, reduce the number of young people who are NEETs, but the Bill also provides a very welcome opportunity to address persistent underachievement among certain groups and individuals identified by the equalities review. One particular problem is stereotyping according to gender, race and so on. That certainly continues to channel certain groups into occupational segregation, which, without doubt, leads to a loss of potential for both individuals and the economy. For example, the EOC, when it was in existence, found that, although more women than men are now entering the professions of medicine and the law, for many girls—particularly those who are entering jobs through vocational pathways—there has been little significant change in recent years, with only 1 per cent of women in construction and only 22 girls enrolling for plumbing apprenticeships in England in 2004. As we know, the same is true in reverse for men, who, for example, make up only 2 per cent of the childcare workforce. Such segregation is also pronounced for ethnic minorities, as research shows that about a quarter of ethnic minorities are employed in the distribution or hotel and restaurant industry sectors, compared with less than a fifth of white people. For disabled young people, research also shows that, although the scope and level of aspirations among disabled 16 year-olds are similar to those of their non-disabled counterparts, at age 26, disabled people are nearly four times as likely to be unemployed as non-disabled people. I hope that a lot of that will be put right by the announcement that has been made today. However, among those in employment, earnings are 11 per cent lower for disabled people than for their non-disabled counterparts with the same level of educational qualifications. At the same time as training and labour markets are characterised by occupational segregation, industry is experiencing major skills shortages. It is significant that sectors with the lowest number of women are also those experiencing severe skills shortages. I am sure your Lordships will be aware that engineering, for example, is an area where we have not moved anything like as fast as we should have done following the reports on the engineering industry that came out some 30 years ago. The amendment would also place in the Bill the offer of a non-traditional work placement. We believe that work experience placements are vital in the choices that young people make, as they can be very much influenced by what they see. If they are unable to go somewhere to test their skills, they can at least see how the work operates. However, EOC research found that only 15 per cent of girls and boys received any advice on work placements in areas dominated by the other sex. I hope the Committee will consider that this is an important area to discuss, and I very much look forward to hearing what the Minister says about its future. I beg to move.