2 What action has the Government already
taken?
19. The 2004 Spending Review set out a number
of new Public Service Agreement targets for the then Department
for Education and Skills, including the target to "reduce
the proportion of young people not in education, employment or
training by 2 percentage points by 2010".[29]
Since that time, the Government has brought forward a number of
initiatives and strategies, including its 2007 publication "Reducing
the number of young people not in education, employment or training
(NEET): The strategy".[30]
This section sets out some of the most significant recent policy
developments intended to increase the proportion of 16-18 year
olds participating in education, employment or training.
The September and January Guarantees
20. The September Guarantee is an offer, by the
end of September, of a "suitable"[31]
place in learning to young people completing compulsory education.
The Guarantee was implemented nationally in 2007 for 16 year olds
and extended to 17 year olds in 2008. The offer must be one of
the following:
- full or part-time education
in school, sixth form college, independent learning provider,
or FE college;
- an apprenticeship or programme-led apprenticeship.
This must include both the training element and a job or work
placement, where this is a requirement of starting the apprenticeship;
- Entry to Employment (E2E)[32]
or Foundation Learning; or
- employment with training to NVQ Level 2.
21. In November 2009, the Prime Minister announced
plans to build on the September Guarantee approach by offering
a place in learning to all 16 and 17 year olds not in employment,
education or training in January. The Guarantee is principally
intended to offer places on Entry to Employment courses; guidance
prepared by the Department stated that the Government was "allocating
£25.6m to provide funding for an additional 10,000 places
with Entry to Employment providers".[33]
It added, however, that "Connexions should also consider
whether there are suitable opportunities in [...] mainstream provision
for young people who are NEET in January to reengage in learning."[34]
The Young Person's Guarantee
22. In the 2009 Budget the Government announced
the Young Person's Guarantee.[35]
Under the Guarantee, 18-24 year olds who have been claiming Jobseeker's
Allowance for six months will be guaranteed access to one of the
following:
- a job through the Future Jobs
Fund, a programme of investment intended to create 170,000 additional
jobs in the public, private and third sectors;
- additional support to help them to compete for
existing jobs through programmes called Routes into Work (preparing
young people for jobs in economic growth sectors such as retail
and hospitality) and Care First Careers (jobs in the care sector);
- work-focused training; or
- a work experience place delivered through a
Community Task Force.[36]
The Government has confirmed that the Young Person's
Guarantee has been fully available in all local authorities since
25 January 2010.[37]
Raising the participation age
23. The Education & Skills Act 2008 provides
for the raising of the participation age in England: all young
people in England will be required to continue in education, training
or employment with formally recognised training to 17 in 2013.
In 2015 this will rise to 18. To coincide with these changes,
the Government has brought forward a programme of reform of 14-19
education. It anticipates that learning for young people will
lead to qualifications from one of four routes: Apprenticeships;
Diplomas; Foundation Learning and General Qualifications, e.g.
GCSEs and A levels. The Government also expects that "young
people will be able to study qualifications that do not fall under
these four routes where there is a clear rationale to maintain
them in learners' interests, and some young people will study
informal unaccredited provision to re-engage them."[38]
24. The Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and
Learning Act 2009 placed the Apprenticeships programme on a statutory
footing and guaranteed that all suitably qualified young people
would be entitled to an apprenticeship place. Investing in
Potential states that the Government is "creating an
additional 35,000 Apprenticeship places, including 21,000 in the
public sector"[39]
and will provide employer subsidies to support more 16 and 17
year olds to take up an Apprenticeship place.[40]
25. Diplomas are designed as an alternative to
GCSEs/A levels and Apprenticeships. They consist of three elements:
- Principal learning, which focuses
on developing the knowledge and skills that are needed for the
Diploma subject chosen, with an emphasis on learning by doing;
- Generic learning (which is the same for all Diplomas),
intended to help students gain a good standard in English, maths
and ICT skills as well as developing personal, learning and thinking
skills; and
- Additional and specialist learning, leading to
qualifications which may be directly related to the chosen Diploma
subject or may simply reflect other interests and ambitions.
Students also need to complete at least 10 days'
work experience to help develop employability skills. Ten Diploma
"lines of learning" are now on offer.
26. Foundation Learning qualifications are intended
to enable learners who are not yet ready to learn at Level 2 to
follow tailored learning programmes at a pace that meets the needs
of the learner and enable progression to higher levels of learning.
With practitioners, learners agree an intended 'destination',
wherever possible at Level 2 (Diplomas, Apprenticeships, GCSEs)
or for some, independent living or supported employment. Learning
programmes integrate vocational/subject learning, personal and
social development, and functional skills.
"Investing in Potential"
27. In December 2009 the Government published
Investing in Potential, its "Strategy to increase the proportion
of 16-24 year olds in education, employment or training".
The Strategy announced government plans to increase investment
in post-16 participation in 2010-11 by £202m. It further
announced that the Government would:
- Provide employer subsidies
to support more 16 and 17 year olds to take up an Apprenticeship
place.
- Better integrate the services offered by Jobcentre
Plus and Connexions for 16 and 17 year olds who are looking for
work, including providing 16-17 year olds who are NEET with access
to Local Employment Partnership[41]
vacancies, with training or as an Apprenticeship where possible.
- Continue the Activity Agreement and Entry to
Learning pilots in 2010-11.[42]
- Work with Connexions services and Jobcentre Plus
to explore the introduction of group advice sessions for 16-17
year olds.
- Provide young job seekers with access to a dedicated
personal adviser from day one of their unemployment claim, more
time with an adviser throughout their claim, and more opportunities
to be fast tracked to the support available from six months.
- Bring forward the Young Person's Guarantee so
that all 18-24 year olds still unemployed after six months would
be guaranteed access to a job, training or work experience.
- Introduce a Graduate Guarantee that all new graduates
still unemployed at six months would have access to an internship,
training or help to become self employed.
- Make available over 100,000 additional government
funded training, internship, work experience and job opportunities
to help deliver the guarantee. This includes a target of 16,000
apprenticeship places through the Future Jobs Fund.
- Introduce a requirement that all young job seekers
take up one of the places on offer before they complete ten months
on JSA.[43]
Information, advice and guidance
28. The Government's strategy for young people's
information, advice and guidance, Quality, Choice and Aspiration,
was published in October 2009.[44]
This document sets out the terms of the "IAG Guarantee",
stating that young people in schools are entitled to:
- Support from a Personal Tutor
who knows them well and who can help them to access specialist
advice and ensure any learning needs or issues are quickly addressed;
- High quality programmes of careers education
which help young people to plan and manage their own careers;
- Impartial information, advice and guidance about
learning and work options including about Apprenticeships, Diplomas,
Foundation Learning and GCSEs/A levels;
- Information, advice and guidance about the benefits
of higher education and how to access the opportunities that
it affords; and
- A programme of work related learning (in Years
10 and 11), giving young people direct insights into the world
of work.
29. Quality, Choice and Aspiration
also notes that all young people are entitled to access, through
wider commissioned services:
- One to one advice and support
from a local specialist Connexions adviser when needed;
- Information and advice by telephone and on-line
every day (including evenings and weekend) through Connexions
Direct;
- Further specialist support from local services
as needed;
- Information on all local learning programmes
for 14-19 year olds via their local 14-19 prospectus;
- Support for young people to move to adult information,
advice and guidance services when they reach the appropriate age;
- The ability to apply for post-16 learning opportunities
on-line through a Common Application Process by 2011.[45]
30. There have been substantial
changes to the provision of information, advice and guidance,
not least of which is a greater role for local authorities. The
Government must monitor the quality of delivery of information,
advice and guidance across England.
29 HM Treasury, 2004 Spending Review,
July 2004, p 87 Back
30
Department for Children, Schools and Families, Reducing the
number of young people not in education, employment or training
(NEET): The strategy, November 2007 Back
31
Department for Children, Schools and Families, Reducing the
number of young people not in education, employment or training
(NEET): The strategy, November 2007, paragraph 34 Back
32
Entry to Employment courses offer training in three core areas:
basic and key skills, vocational development, and personal and
social development. Back
33
Department for Children, Schools and Families, Guidance on
the January Guarantee, November 2009, paragraph 4 Back
34
Department for Children, Schools and Families, Guidance on
the January Guarantee, November 2009, paragraphs 4-7 Back
35
HM Treasury, Budget 2009, HC 407, paragraph 1.24 Back
36
Department for Children, Schools and Families, Department for
Work and Pensions and Department for Business, Innovation and
Skills, Investing in Potential, December 2009, paragraph
6.12 Back
37
HC Deb, 12 March 2010, col 503W Back
38
Department for Children, Schools and Families, Delivering 14-19
Reform: Next Steps-Summary, October 2008, p 6 Back
39
Department for Children, Schools and Families, Department for
Work and Pensions and Department for Business, Innovation and
Skills, Investing in Potential, December 2009, p
6 Back
40
Ibid., p 7 Back
41
Local Employment Partnerships (LEPs) are provided by Jobcentre
Plus (JCP) and offer opportunities for benefit claimants to return
to work by partnering companies with suitable applicants. LEPs
offer a range of support, including pre-employment training, guaranteed
interviews, work trials and mentoring. Back
42
Under the Activity Agreement pilots, young people were offered
a weekly allowance in return for committing to a plan and completing
agreed activities intended to reintegrate them back into learning
and/or employment. The Entry to Learning pilots aim to support
local authorities in strengthening the progression between third
sector re-engagement activity and formal learning, by providing
funding for mentors, intermediate provision and financial incentives
for young people. Back
43
Department for Children, Schools and Families, Department for
Work and Pensions and Department for Business, Innovation and
Skills, Investing in Potential, December 2009, p 7 Back
44
Department for Children, Schools and Families, Quality, Choice
and Aspiration, October 2009 Back
45
Department for Children, Schools and Families, Quality, Choice
and Aspiration, October 2009, p 15 Back
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