David Lammy - Adult Advancement and Career Service

Check against delivery

Good morning, it's a pleasure to be here today at a time when careers advice is moving centre stage as the need the need to improve the country's skills becomes a key priority for the government.

Careers advice in this country has not always had a high profile. But we have moved on enormously over the last decade, and you and I know how important good advice can be in changing the course of people's lives.

Today, every adult in England can access a free information and advice service, from the nextstep and the learndirect advice services.

Together, the adult careers service handles some 12 million requests for information each year. And it works - nextstep helps to get 48% of its customers back into learning and 21% into employment.

So we are building from a position of strength. But we know we can do better - we need to help adults to develop their skills and provide routes back into learning for those who need them. We need to help people gain the skills to change careers or progress in their place of work.

There are still too many people who are unemployed - or as my colleague Alan Johnson spoke of last week - on long term sick when they may simply need to retrain or build up their confidence, and get back into work.

We must promote the benefits of learning and skills, change attitudes and encourage people to take ownership of their career development.

You heard earlier today about the skills challenges we face in meeting the ambitions for 2020 we set ourselves following the Leitch Review of Skills. There are many people in the workplace who are papering over their numeracy and literacy skills and are consequently stuck in dead-end jobs. A better careers service will help people address their skills shortages, help them get better jobs and boost productivity for the whole country.

The new, universal advancement and careers service for adults that we are proposing will encourage progression and encourage people to be proactive about the job they want. It is right that we should prioritise resources on helping people who are out of work, those who are on the poverty line between welfare and work, or in low paid and low skilled jobs. But this will be much more than just a service for the unemployed - getting a job should just be the start.

We need to help those already in work to get on - improve prospects for them and for the country. When people are happy in their jobs they are more productive and take fewer sick days. People are living for longer and working for longer and so there must be a greater expectation that people will change careers more often through their lives.

As I have said before, we want to get to the position where if a person says that they are unhappy in their job or unhappy that they do not have a job, a good friend would ask them what they are doing to develop their skills to get a better position.

I am not placing the burden solely on the individual. If we can encourage more employers to take the skills pledge and to engage with Train to Gain then more companies will develop their staff. This in turn will help us meet the challenging skills targets we have set for 2020.

Of course, it's not just lack of skills that can prevent people getting the job they want or getting back into employment. And we cannot compartmentalise disadvantage - there is often a set of complex and overlapping reasons that prevent people progressing. That's why we are determined to provide a more holistic service - one that treats people as people, not as statistics.

To help overcome those wider barriers, people need help and advice on health, transport, employment rights, finance and more. That doesn't mean we want to teach our grandmother to suck eggs - we will to work alongside partners not try to do their work for them. This service will be like a good GP - it will make sure you receive more specialist advice, if that's what you need.

Careers advice should not be a one-off intervention but an ongoing, pro-active process using a standardised menu of service options.

We set out key features of the new service in World Class Skills. These include Skills Health Checks to help careers advisors prescribe the most effective action to help people to progress and achieve their ambitions; providing better integrated financial support for learning for those with the lowest skills and qualifications; and greater use of online and telephone support, as appropriate to individuals needs and circumstances.

And beyond that, supporting the delivery of Skills Accounts - which will give individuals greater ownership and choice over their learning, motivating them to gain skills and achieve qualifications, enter work and progress in employment.

I believe if we can get this new service right, we will be able to improve the lives of millions of people in this country. We know that this is important and that's why the Government is prepared to put the money in to make this really work. We will provide at least £50m of new funding for the advancement and careers service and skills accounts from 2010-11.

When my department was created, it was the first time that anyone in Whitehall had direct responsibility for innovation. DIUS will shortly be publishing a science and innovation strategy and one of the key messages that will be in there is that innovation doesn't need to be about big business or futuristic scientific advancements. It can just as easily be about finding better working practices, maximising the resources available to you taking a fresh view on problem-solving.

We want public services to be innovative and embrace the use of cutting edge technologies. Necessity is the mother of invention - our resources don't allow everybody to receive face to face support, so we can't just rely on the tried and trusted methods. Instead we need to be innovative. Naturally, we'll continue to offer face to face support to those that need it, but let's also take this opportunity to re-think how we can provide the most valuable and effective careers advice.

In this digital age, people want to receive personal and tailored advice at the touch of a button; our plans are and should be ambitious. Many people prefer the convenience of telephone support - the successful learndirect guidance trial has shown that in-depth and ongoing support can be provided over the phone. Ever increasing access to and use of computers means that many others are able to help themselves by taking up web based opportunities. We have to provide flexible delivery to suit customers' needs and circumstances. A key aim of the new service must be to integrate better the face to face, telephone and on-line services.

But we need to get on with developments. Trials to help us to develop a new, joined up service will start this autumn in West Midland and gradually be extended to some other areas including parts of London during 2008/09. These will involve local advice partners, drawing on their ideas and experience to test out approaches and ways of delivering joined up services.

A key element of the trials will be a no wrong door approach developed jointly with local authorities, colleges, the voluntary sector, childcare, health and financial advice services, offering seamless referrals to more expert advice where necessary. Another crucial part of the trials will be developing and testing Skills Health Checks, both with Jobcentre Plus clients and employees.

Given the wide reach for this organisation, it is crucial we have a clear and well recognised brand established to take this service forward. We need to move forward on that, but as you would expect - we'll make a splash with this brand, promoting the whole service and making sure it is at the forefront of peoples' minds when they are seeking careers support and advice.

The success of the new service will require the full commitment and support of professional careers advisors to change the way people think about their careers.

There is still much to do, and we recognise there is a challenge which we all need to address to develop the capacity of the advisor workforce - clarifying roles and ensuring they have the skills and knowledge to deliver a labour market focused and culturally sensitive service.

The additional resources provided and the effective and flexible use of available technologies, developed working alongside practitioners, will put us in a position to set and meet high expectations.

The success of this new service will rely upon you - your enthusiasm, expertise and ideas combined with some fresh approaches will have a huge impact. I hope that today's conference gives you the opportunity to think about your role in the new world I have set out today. Thanks for listening.