Careers education in secondary schools and colleges in Cumbria has been rated among the best in England.

Last month the Careers and Enterprise Company released its State of the Nation Report for 2019, describing careers provision in England’s secondary schools and colleges at the end of the academic year 2018/19.

Cumbria came out as one of nine top quartile performers among the 38 Local Enterprise Partnership areas in England.

Caroline Ledward, manager of the Cumbria Careers Hub, which was launched in January, said it had worked with institutions across the county to boost careers provision.

She said: “The Careers Hub has supported schools, colleges and employers to work together to deliver experiences of the workplace and link curriculum delivery to careers.

“The strength of our approach is that it builds on local strengths and partnerships.

"However, there is more to do to secure our ambition for world class careers education across Cumbria, and we would welcome approaches from employers looking to support young people understand the career opportunities available to them.”

The hub is managed, supported and part-funded by the Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership alongside with the Careers and Enterprise Company.

The report said it had made good progress when measured against the Gatsby benchmarks - a set of standards developed to measure success in careers education provision.

In particular, significant progress in Cumbria has been made in areas relating to learning from career and labour market information, linking curriculum learning to careers, encounters with employers and employees and experience of the workplace.

The hub is one of 20 to be piloted in England, and is designed to transform careers education for young people.

It consists of a group of 40 local schools and colleges working together with universities, training providers, employers and career professionals to improve careers education in the county.

The CEC has allocated £5 million over a two-year period to support the formation and running of careers hubs.