igen Chief Executive appointed to National Council for Careers

Steve Higginbotham, Chief Executive of Leeds based igen group, has been appointed by the government as one of only 10 members of the new National Council for Careers.

The National Council for Careers, comprising experts from business and the careers sector, will advise government on the operation and development of the new National Careers Service and related careers policies for England.

Steve Higginbotham has a wealth of experience in the careers sector. He has been Chief Executive of igen Ltd, which provides careers information, advice and guidance and training for adults and young people, for over 16 years and is the current Immediate Past President of the Institute of Career Guidance (ICG).He also holds directorships with Careers England and Careers Yorkshire and Humber (the National Careers Service prime contractor for the region).

He will join Rajay Naik, David McNerney, Jennifer Rudge OBE, Linda Taylor OBE, Heather Jackson, Chris Heaume, Kieran Gordon, Tony Watts and Ruth Spellman, on the National Council for Careers which will be chaired by Dr Deirdre Hughes OBE.Simon Surtees, Nick Chambers and Brian Lightman will be Associate Members.

The National Careers Service will provide information and advice for approximately 370,000 young people through the use of the helpline and website, offer face to face advice to 700,000 adults each year in a range of locations in local communities and provide detailed sector by sector labour market information so people can discover which industries are growing in their area.