Over the last two years, a plethora of reports from trade union, employer, education, and careers sector bodies (as well as the Education Select Committee findings (pdf) and the National Careers Council's two reports to Government) reaffirm the urgent need for improved careers provision for young people across England.

There are growing concerns about young people's lack of awareness in making good connections between their educational experiences and the realities of labour markets. Many young people remain caught in a Catch-22 situation finding it "difficult to get work without experience and difficult to obtain experience without work" (UKCES, 2015).

A comparison of the career aspirations of 11,000 teenagers, against the projected distribution of the 13.5 million new and replacement jobs predicted to emerge in our economy over the next decade, has shown a serious disconnect between the two.

In some geographical areas, for example London (pdf), the proportion of young people in apprenticeships and jobs with training stands at half the England average in 2014 and has fallen over the last 12 months. Across England, latest figures show 178,100 16 to 18-year-olds failed to complete post-16 qualifications they started in 2012/13, and are at risk of becoming not in employment, education or training (NEET).

Analysis for the Local Government Association by the Centre for Economic & Social Inclusion indicates the cost to the public purse of this wasted education and skills provision is £814 million – 12 per cent of all government spending on post-16 education and skills. The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee has raised concerns that one hundred thousand plus young people (aged 16-18) fall below the radar, with too many young people simply disappearing from all relevant public systems.

The Fabian Society puts the estimate higher: "we have lost track of over 150,000 young people nationally, including over 50,000 NEETs." This is a serious problem as research shows unemployment in youth can scar prospects throughout working life, not just at the time.

Nicky Morgan, Education Secretary, announced the formation of a new careers and enterprise company in December 2014. It will have to be clear on the actual problem it is trying to solve. The extent to which Lord Young's enterprise agenda (pdf) becomes the dominant theme is something to be reconciled.

Concrete national and local agreements for improved careers provision for young people needs urgent attention. This is truly a new era for careers work in England and this "new experiment" needs to work.

See also: Testing Times: careers market policies and practices in England and The Netherlands.