Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG)

IAG sits at the very core of our business and as such we have a very strong reputation of delivering effective IAG that meets the needs of our clients across the Bradford district and beyond.

We are recognised locally and nationally for producing information that meets the needs of our clients. Our information advisers assist and monitor the careers libraries of our secondary schools, and produce a range of locally-based publications aimed at school and college leavers.

We continuously seek feedback from all of our clients and actively look at ways in which we can improve our service with innovative and creative methods, using the latest technology to better engage our client groups.

Our qualified personal advisers with specialist knowledge in careers guidance are based throughout the Bradford district, working in schools, colleges, training providers and a large number of community-based settings. We constantly review the effectiveness of our services and deploy our staff to where there is the greatest need in order to have the widest impact in supporting young people and adults to achieve and sustain economic activity.

To find out more or to discuss how Careers Bradford may be able to provide or manage your IAG service, please email your query to iag@careersb.co.uk

Contract Management

Careers Bradford is an established and well-regarded deliverer and manager of contracts from a large range of local, national and international funding partners. For example our division:

• Careers Europe manages 10-15 contracts at any one time from various EU funding bodies
• Training Services delivers and fund manages large contracts from the LSC, including e2e and Fair Cities.
• Youth Choices delivers the Connexions contract and service in the Bradford district as well as others from Prince’s Trust and the Bradford Confederations.
• Adult Choices delivers the Next Step contract as well as similar contracts from Bradford Trident and other funding partners.

More information about Careers Bradford’s current contracts is available in the Divisions section.

To find out more or to discuss how each division can support you with future projects and contracts, please email your query to contracts@careersb.co.uk

Management Information

Careers Bradford prides itself on producing comprehensive and accurate data and reporting to funders, stakeholders and partners. To help us fulfil the service delivery of our contracts, our databases include detailed records of all young people in the Bradford district and their current state of economic activity.

We continue to invest in new technologies, bringing greater efficiency to collect, analyse and report on data. We have launched the Fair Cities database to capture the records of our clients and to report accurate data to the Learning and Skills Council’s Fair Cities pilot team.

Investment in the Geographical Information System (GIS), allows us to map our clients from all divisions to provide and enhance the translation of complex data into meaningful information and support the objectives of local partners, receiving information by confederation and ward. Such technology will support the emerging Children’s Trust through Careers Bradford providing appropriate and vital information to the Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership.

Our partners rely on Careers Bradford to provide vital statistical information about the local district and advise them on trends, key performances such as the NEET figures (numbers of young people in the district who are Not in Employment, Education and Training), and economic deprivation levels within wards, all of which goes towards advising the government about the shaping of national policy.

To find out how Careers Bradford may be able to provide you with, or manage your own data, please email your query to mi@careersb.co.uk

Research

Originally established to provide internal research to support each division, our research team is fast emerging as a vital resource in supporting partner aims and objectives. A recent piece of research carried out on behalf of the Learning and Skills Council, involved assessing the needs of young people with Learning Difficulty and Disability. The resulting report can be read in the ‘Publications & Resources’ section under the ‘Research’ category.

We are working hard to get a better deal for Bradford district and in support of this we actively seek feedback from our clients, customers, partners and stakeholders to ensure that the services we deliver are appropriate and meet the needs of the local district. Another of our surveys (again of young people in the district), assessed the level and quality of the information, advice and guidance they had received. 'Your Survey - You Tell Us', (copies of which have been distributed to all our partners and stakeholders, can be downloaded by clicking here) gave a variety of very firm responses which will inform future delivery of our services.

Our data team has access to, and provides, vital statistical data to support our researchers to provide effective and accurate information to our partners.

To find out more or to discuss how Careers Bradford can provide data or undertake research on your behalf, please email your query to research@careersb.co.uk

Training

Staff
We invest substantial resources in ensuring our staff have access to the latest information, methods and technology to equip them to deliver an effective and responsive service to our clients and partners. Over the last 12 months we have invested £44,000 on up-skilling staff. Nine new staff have attained the NVQ Level 4 Advice and Guidance qualification.

Clients
Our e2e and Fair Cities contracts, delivered by our Training Services division, continue to provide quality of service, ensuring that our partners acting as sub-contractors are equipped to train our learners to the very highest of standards. We actively monitor our partnerships’ delivery of e2e and Fair Cities through observations of learning and teaching, collection of learner feedback, ongoing contract reviews and an annual provider risk assessment audit helps us to evaluate quality and operational performance. The provider risk assessment tool has been widely praised, by the Adult Learning Inspectorate (now OfSted) among others, and is a benchmark standard for lead partners across West Yorkshire.

Partners
We continue to deliver the INSET training to school coordinators as part of our Connexions contract, ensuring that careers information, advice and guidance remains at the heart of the curriculum for each educational establishment throughout the Bradford district. Similarly, we analyse the training needs of staff from our partnerships (e2e and Fair Cities) and offer a rolling programme of training throughout each year. We are also supporting partners in training professionals throughout the Bradford district with the introduction of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF).

To find out more or to discuss how Careers Bradford may be able to support or deliver training on your behalf, please email your query to training@careersb.co.uk