“Access to high-quality careers advice and work experience placements can make a real difference to the lives of children and young people and it’s good to see Labour aiming to ensure more pupils can benefit from this support.
“What we now need to hear is how exactly this ambition will be achieved. Currently many schools and colleges lack the time, staffing and resources needed to organise and provide work experience opportunities. It is also challenging to find sufficient number of employers willing to offer placements while local careers advice services were severely cut back from 2010 onwards. There is a lot of rebuilding to be done.
“To ensure this works well for pupils, schools and colleges, and employers, there needs to be a joined-up strategy that clearly sets out who is responsible and accountable for provision and how this is going to be funded.”