Delivering Skills That Work For Wales

12.05.08

Deputy Minister for Skills, John Griffiths will today [Monday 12 May] set out his vision for reducing the number of disengaged young people in the first of a series of themed papers tackling the issues raised in ‘Skills that Work for Wales’. The Deputy Minister will visit Rathbone in Crumlin to see first hand how the company is providing support to young people to overcome barriers to learning, training or employment.

Whilst there he will launch the consultation document ‘Delivering Skills that Work for Wales: Reducing the proportion of young people not in education, employment or training in Wales’ which sets out the Assembly Government’s proposals to transform learning provision and unlock the talent of young people.

John Griffiths said:

Since devolution we have made significant progress in reducing the number of people not engaged in education, employment or training (NEET).  A number of initiatives have already helped us to achieve our 2007 Vision into Action target to reduce the proportion of 16-18 year olds NEET to 10%.  However, this remains an unacceptable number and we must act now to reduce this number and to prevent other young people disengaging.

The consultation paper is based on three strands of activity: the right systems, the right provision and the right support.

The Right Systems

Efficient processes for identifying and re-engaging young people who become NEET need to be in place, along with robust assessment and referral processes and better long term monitoring.

Proposals include:

• Improvements to local data collection and sharing
• Enhancements to Keeping in Touch protocols, which set out how Young People’s Partnerships (YPPs) will identify, engage, assess and refer young people. 
• Introduce a new Statement of Arrangements setting out requirements for learning providers to notify Careers Wales as soon as a young person becomes disengaged.
• Stronger role for Careers Wales companies in collaboration with YPPs.

The Right Provision

Young people who are disengaged say that they find themselves in the situation because the right courses are not available or that they don’t have the qualifications to progress. 

Proposals to tackle this include:

• Legislating to place a duty upon local authorities, schools and further education institutions to co-operate to offer a wide curriculum choice and deliver an enhanced entitlement for learners to options, experiences and support (the 14-19 Measure).
• Testing a new Entry level programme which will focus on tackling the significant additional support needs that many young people have before they are able to move into work or further learning.  

The Right Support

Targeted and intensive learning and personal support as well as careers advice and guidance needs to be available to make sure young people know how to access education, training or employment and enable them to overcome challenges. 

Proposals include:

• Investing in the development of an enhanced model for Learning Coach advisory support specifically for disengaged young people
• Developing guidance on the delivery of personal support 
• Working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions to make changes to benefit entitlements so that young people aged 18 with a history of not being in education, employment or training can be fast-tracked straight onto the New Deal.
• Consider the scope for, and benefits of a statutory entitlement to free basic skills learning for all learners over the age of 16.

John Griffiths added:

We want to ensure that as many young people as possible choose to stay in learning after the age of 16, including those facing the toughest challenges. The One Wales agreement makes a firm commitment to transform learning provision for young people by providing attractive, flexible learning options matched by enhanced support and guidance.

I urge businesses, stakeholders and individuals to help shape our agenda for Delivering Skills that Work for Wales, and take an active part in this consultation process.

Notes

• Deputy Minister for Skills will be visiting Rathbone, Mining School Hill, Main Street, Crumlin at 2pm on Monday 12 May.
• Analysis shows that young people who are categorised as NEET are a diverse group:  Some of them are taking planned breaks in their education or labour-market careers - perhaps on a gap year - and won’t need help to re-engage in learning or working.  Others might have significant and multiple barriers to participation - domestic responsibilities or an insecure home environment, substance misuse problems or a history of offending behaviour.
• The final version will be published later in 2008 and will include a detailed action plan linking to the Skills and Employment Strategy.
• Skills that Work for Wales, the draft Skills and Employment Strategy, will be finalised this summer.

Delivering Skills That Work for Wales: Reducing the proportion of young people not in education, employment or training in Wales

< back