Agenda item

The Associate Director, Place Regulations provided the Panel with an overview of the Young People Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) in the context of the NEET comparison figures on pre-Covid-19 and during/post Covide-19.

The report focused on young people aged 16 to18 in line with the Raising Participation Age agenda and the statutory duties placed upon the Local Authority.

 The following points were noted:

·  The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported the latest quarterly increase in the number of NEET young people was the largest since July to September 2011 (not 2021).

·  Local authorities were responsible to support young people to participate in

education, employment or training (EET) until they were 18 years old and also required to track the participation of young people in Year 12 & 13. The LocalAuthority had a duty to provide them with the right opportunity if they were not in EET.

·  Provide monthly reports of NEET figures to the DfE (the NEET Not Known figures were also included collectively).  The NEET and Not Know figure for Slough in December 2019 in the second quintile was 4.1% compared to 7.3% in England with a slight increase to 4.7% in December 2020 compared to 7.6% in the South-East and 6.3% in England.

·  Of the 136 NEET young people, there were 45 with an unknown status. During the Covid-19 period, the NEET Team had actively engaged with young people online and whilst social distancing safely, had used various methods including door knocking to track young people.

·  The proposal to remuddle the transformation programme included the NEET team moving close to the Early Help team. The all-age Future Skills Hub would be going live at the end of June 2021 with a group of employers and delivery partners would be working together to look at a range of jobs and creating pathways for them. The Localities offer was also being developed to provide support and skills as well as encouraging young people to consider the types of careers they would like to pursue.  The Early Help team and other services were working together jointly to support young people to get into education, employment and training. Work had also been on-going with schools to raise aspirations and building on apprenticeships with the aim od developing and growing ‘Slough Borough’s own’ by investing in apprenticeship opportunities.

The Panel raised a number of issues during a wide-ranging discussion which are summarised as follows:

·  Members asked about the position of the 45 young people whose status were unknown.  It was explained that it was not known where these young people were, and that some may possibly no longer live in the borough. However, the Council was required to provide evidence of where they were and  investigations  were on-going to find ways of tracking them, including  knocking on doors and checking education institutions. Work would also be undertaken with voluntary partners to establish whether the children were accessing any of the services.

·  In answer to a Member’s question, it was confirmed that ensuring that young people were in EET until they were 18, required them to be on a programme of education, employment or training  as required by law. This was done by tracking and knowing where they were but was very difficult to enforce. It was noted that a lead youth worker who would build relationship with young people was being recruited for all localities in the Borough.

·  Concerns were raised about the limited number of local residents employed in regeneration programmes in Slough. It was explained that by law, the Council could not force contractors to employ local people but it was critical for a certain percentage of opportunities to be provided to local residence by developers.

·  Members requested to be provided a gender breakdown of the NEET figures.

·  Members asked about the number of employers that were on the steering group for the Future Skills Hub. It was explained that employers on the steering group, which included Heathrow, rather than employers. The Panel was informed that the NVQ Level 3 qualification had been an issue in the past and pathways were being reviewed to be able to support people to achieve thisqualification.

·  In response to Members’ query, it was explained that young people would not be forced into pursuing further studies but were required by law to be in EET until they were 18 as discussed earlier. However, they would be encouraged and supported into programmes which captured pupils who may potentially drop out to provide support to prevent them dropping out.

·  Members asked about provision of traineeships and it was confirmed that traineeships would be one of the pathways for employment and noted that  Kickstart Scheme had been a preference for young people to traineeships.

Under Rule 30, Councillor Strutton commented on a number of issues including the need for the provision of career advisers in schools and for the Council to engage with career officers and local businesses. 

Resolved – That the Young People Not in Education, Employment or

   Training report be noted.