Connexions launches to give youth guidance

A new guidance service for teenagers to be launched on Monday will encourage more people into further and higher education.

The Connexions service for 13 to 19-year-olds integrates existing careers advice and youth support services. Funding switches from the services that have been subsumed, and there will be more money coming from the spending review. After a limited introduction, Connexions will be rolled out nationwide in months to come.

Conservatives have argued that Connexions is too centralised. They fear that it may focus overly on socially deprived young people to the exclusion of most teenagers.