Agenda item

The Committee received and considered a report from the 14-19 Strategy Manager to update Members on developments within the 14-19 programme.

The Committee noted that on 13 April 2011, the Minster for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning made an announcement giving details about proposals for a new all-age careers service in England by April 2012. The Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) would continue to fund careers services for adults both online and through helpline services; from September 2011 these would be linked to similar services for young people, so there would be a single point of access for all users of each service. The department would also fund a network of public, private and voluntary organisations to provide careers guidance to adults.  From April 2012 these services would be known as the National Careers Service.

From September 2012, the Education Bill would place a new duty on schools to secure access to impartial and independent careers guidance for every pupil in Years 9 to 11. Schools will have the freedom to decide how best to fulfil this duty. Schools would be able to access the National Careers Service for this purpose. Schools would be expected to make provision for careers guidance from within the Dedicated Schools Grant.

The DfE had issued statutory guidance to local authorities on targeted support services for young people and a communication to schools on changes to the delivery of careers guidance. Boroughs would not be expected to provide universal careers service once the new careers service was established and the duty on schools had commenced. However, local authorities would still need to support vulnerable young people to engage in education and training,

Local authorities, working with schools, Academies and colleges would additionally be expected to track and record young people’s participation post-16 on the local Client Caseload Information System (CCIS) in order to ensure there is reliable data available centrally on young people at risk of being NEET.  They will also be required to maintain close links with JobCentre Plus to ensure young people NEET are given appropriate support.

During the transition process, schools were being encouraged to think about putting in place new arrangements for careers guidance in advance of September 2012. Havering was currently in discussion with the current Connexions contractor (Prospects) with regard to a possible extension to the existing arrangements which come to a conclusion in March 2012.

The London Borough of Havering was currently drafting a strategy aimed at helping young people to succeed in learning and finding a job. As part of this process, a draft Youth Commissioning document would be published later in 2011. The Youth Commissioning document would outline the nature of the commissioned activity that would deliver the Local Authority’s responsibilities outlined above from September 2012. 

Regarding post-16 participation, the Committee considered data showing that 87% of 16 and 17 year olds were in education and work based learning. This was a significant improvement in each of the last two years since 2007 when the comparative figures were 81% and 84%. 16 year old participation increased to 91%, and 17 year old participation increased to 83%.

Further data showed information from the YPLA and DMAG regarding recruitment rates in 2011 for the 16-19 population. This showed a predicted drop in numbers over the next eight years. The predicted drop would almost cancel out a rise in the participation age to full participation in 2015. Local data from the Census showed a small reduction in the size of the Year 11 cohort in Havering between 2010 and 2014 (about 80 young people by 2014); it then begins to rise again.

The population measure and the Year 11 cohort sizes were measuring two different groups of young people. There was a view in London that the Census data may provide a more reliable measure for predicting future 16-19 demand in London than the ONS data.

In terms of access to Higher Education the latest information available from UCAS showed that an increasing number of young people were making applications to University, and whilst the acceptance rate was staying relatively static, the total number of young people being accepted was increasing from 964 in 2003 to 1,233 in 2009.

The Committee noted the report.