1 Increasing participation
1. On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and
Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Education
(the Department) and the Department for Business, Innovation and
Skills about the participation of 16- to 18-year-olds in education
and training.[1] At
the end of 2013, there were nearly 2 million young people aged
16 to 18 in England and 81.2% were in education or training, compared
to 79.2% at the end of 2012. The proportion who were not in education,
employment or training (NEET), at 7.6%, was the lowest since comparable
records began in 1994. But the UK still lags behind other OECD
countries on participation and for the 148,000 young people who
were still NEET in 2013 the consequences can be severe. Young
people who are NEET are, on average, more likely to be unemployed,
have lower paid jobs, have addictions or go to prison.
[2]
2. The Department sets national policy and funds
16- to 18-year-old education and training. In 2013-14, it allocated
£7 billion to this aspect of its work.[3]
Other organisations, including schools, sixth form colleges and
FE colleges, deliver education and training, while local authorities
have statutory duties to secure sufficient suitable provision
for all young people in their area, and to support participation.[4]
3. New legislation means that young people have to
continue in education or training until at least their 18th birthday.
Students who left year 11 in summer 2014 are the first cohort
that will have to continue until at least their 18th birthday.
While the new legislation includes provisions to enforce participation,
the government has decided not to bring these into force. The
Department has also introduced other initiatives to help young
people participate, particularly those at risk of being NEET.
These initiatives include the Youth Contract, reforms to careers
advice, new Study Programmes and Traineeships, and changes to
apprenticeships. To encourage and facilitate participation the
Department also provides funding to help young people pay for
their travel, books, clothing and equipment.[5]
4. We asked the Department if its initiatives had
improved participation or whether this was just down to the change
in the law. It confirmed to us that the new legislation had been
important, but could not tell us which of its initiatives had
had the biggest additional impact to date. This is in spite of
the fact that the Department's resources are scarce, making cost-effectiveness
vital. Over the past 3 years, funding for 16- to 18-year-old provision
has fallen. In 2013-14, the Department's budget was 8% lower,
in real terms, than its spending in 2010-11 and from September
2014 it has reduced the basic rate of annual funding for an 18-year-old
from £4,000 to £3,300.[6]
5. The Department was also unable to explain why
some local authorities are much better than others at tracking
young people's education and training. Local authorities have
a statutory duty to track the activity of 16- to 18-year-olds,
but some do not know what a large number of their young people
are doing. Nationally, 7% of young people's activity is unknown
to the local authorities where they live, equivalent to some 140,000
young people. But we were surprised to find such a large variation
by local authority area. In some local authorities in April 2014,
the activities of up to 20% of young people were unknown, while
in other authorities very nearby nearly all young people were
successfully tracked. The Department agreed to look into these
differences and report back to the Committee.[7]
6. We were concerned that if local authorities do
not know whether and how young people are participating, they
are less likely to be able to target help at those most in need.[8]
The Department recognised that it could do more, working with
local government, to identify and share good practice on tracking
young people.[9] It highlighted
the example of Leeds, which had increased the resources spent
on tracking young people. This meant that the reported proportion
of young people who were NEET had risen, but the proportion whose
activity was unknown had fallen significantly. Clearly it is better
to know about young people if they are NEET rather than to ignore
them. The Department also told us about good practice on early
intervention with those who are NEET, including the work of the
Early Intervention Foundation and ongoing efforts to assist troubled
families.[10]
7. We asked the Department about its own key intervention
with hard-to-reach young people: the Youth Contract. This provides
extra support to 16- and 17-year-olds who are NEET and who have
fewer than 2 GCSEs at grade A* to C; or are young offenders; or
are or have been in care. The Department initially estimated that
there were 70,000 such individuals who might benefit from the
Youth Contract. But it now forecasts that only 35,000 young people
will join the scheme before it ends in March 2016.[11]
The Department accepted that the Youth Contract had not reached
as many young people as originally planned. But it said that public
money had been protected because the payment-by-results payment
mechanism only rewarded contractors if they actually achieved
outcomes for young people. To get payment, a contractor has to
ensure a participant joined education, training or work with training
for 5 out of 6 months over the contract period. [12]
8. So far the Youth Contract has helped at least
10,000 young people to re-engage with education and training to
some extent.[13] But
it will stop recruiting in March 2015 and the Department has no
specific initiative to put in its place. It told us that the Youth
Contract had been introduced in response to the recession and
subsequent economic downturn and that there was therefore no need
to extend it.[14] We
were concerned, however, that the problem of NEET young people
would not disappear simply because the economy had returned to
growth.[15] The Department's
view was that it would continue to address the issue by improving
attainment up to the age of 16, which it said was a crucial factor
in whether young people become NEET or not.[16]
1 C&AG's Report, 16- to 18-year-old participation in education and training, Session 2014-15, HC 624, 3 September 2014 Back
2
C&AG's Report, paras 2, 1.2, 2.2 and 2.3 and Figure 5 Back
3
C&AG's Report, para 1 Back
4
C&AG's Report, para 5 Back
5
C&AG's Report, paras 3, 1.3 and 2.18 Back
6
Q 135; C&AG's Report, para 1.18 Back
7
Qq 18-23; C&AG's Report, paras 2.39-2.40 and Figure 11; Written evidence from DfE Back
8
Qq 18-20 Back
9
Q 36 Back
10
Qq 18 and 37 Back
11
Q 67; C&AG's Report, paras 2.32 and 2.34 Back
12
C&AG's Report, para 2.33 Back
13
Q 67; C&AG's Report, para 14 Back
14
Q 67 Back
15
Q 75 Back
16
Q 73 Back
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