The British Youth Council’s Youth Select Committee has said it is disappointed with the government’s “ambiguous” response to recommendations it made on work experience.
The 11-member committee is supported by the House of Commons, and allows young people to discuss important topics and make recommendations to the government.
In November 2018, the committee ruled that the government needed to take action on “unequal” work-experience opportunities.
Claudia Quinn, chair of the Youth Select Committee, said she was disappointed to learn that the government had made no concrete commitments to address their concerns.
She added: “The government needs to take steps to address the patchy, unequal nature of young people’s access to work experience and this response doesn’t take into account the very real concerns we’ve brought to their attention.
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In the response, the government affirmed its commitment that “every pupil should have first-hand experiences of the workplace”. However, it refused to make a firm commitment to commission further research on the quality of work experience, stating that it would only “look carefully” at how the evidence base could be improved.
The committee did welcome the government’s plan to undertake further work to understand whether there was value in dedicating a section of the National Careers Service website to work experience, as well as plans to involve young people in the design of any new resources.
Ms Quinn said: “We were, however, pleased with the government’s commitment to involve young people in the design and testing of any National Careers Service new resources and services. Young people should be consulted on things that impact them and we’re excited to hear the government has acknowledged this.”
This year’s committee will examine different aspects of the widely reported knife-crime epidemic.
