Agenda item

This report reviews progress in Medway towards meeting the duty on all young people to participate in education and training.  The report also sets out the framework for careers information, advice and guidance for young people in Medway and reviews the current situation.

Discussion:

The Chief Executive of Medway Youth Trust (MYT) introduced the report, outlining the policy context of raising the age of participation in learning.  From the summer of 2013 young people will be required to continue in education or training until the end of the academic year in which they turn 17.  From 2015 they will be required to continue until their 18^th birthday. 

The Chief Executive of MYT explained that the strategy in preparing for and delivering the raising participation age (RPA) needed to be a whole system approach, requiring the local authority, contractors, schools, families, employers, post 16 providers and young people to understand and embrace what RPA means and the impact of it.  He also drew the committee’s attention to Medway’s performance in relation to 16-18 year olds participating in full-time learning, which was higher than the South East and England averages.

The Chief Executive of MYT then answered questions from Members, which related to: -

·        Variable provision of independent advice and guidance (IAG) in schools;

·        Best practice was shared via workshops led by the Department for Education which allowed learning nationally but he also undertook to contact those authorities whose performance was exceptional compared to others to learn any best practice from those areas specifically;

·        All schools have a legal duty to provide IAG;

·        The budget reduction of £290,000 from the Council’s contract with MYT would require a need to prioritise the most vulnerable young people and those furthest from engagement being targeted;

·        There was a commitment that no ward in Medway would exceed a level of 10% of young people not being in employment, education or training (NEET) by 2014 (currently three wards exceeded this figure);

·        Confirmation that partnership working to address RPA and reduce the number of NEETs in Medway was strong and an example of this being demonstrated was the success of the 100/100 apprenticeship scheme;

·        RPA Strategies were most successful in areas where they were owned and held account for at the most senior level in local authorities;

·        Undertook to provide the committee with data regarding NEETs in a gender and ethnic breakdown.

The Medway Youth Parliament (MYP) representative then provided the committee with an update on the work they had been doing in relation to careers advice, since it had been the topic of MYP’s 2011 conference.  She explained that there was some concern that IAG needed to be pitched right to ensure that the right doors were opened for young people, rather than them following a path that they may not have chosen.  There was also still some concern among MYP members regarding the ‘Your choice in Medway’ website, particularly around its lack of popularity with usage being recorded at 32% as most schools were still helping to fund the website and there was concern about the spend if it was a tool that was not effectively used.

In response the Chief Executive of MYT explained that the ‘Your choice in Medway’ website could look very different in the future and schools would need to decide whether or not they wish to continue contributing to it.  He also commented on the commissioning toolkit, developed by MYT to help schools in choosing the right provider of IAG for its students and the toolkit was now used in other parts of the country.

Decision:

The committee noted the report and in particular the advice that a successful raising participation age strategy needed support amongst all stakeholders across Medway and should be owned by senior leaders at the local authority.