Agenda item

(To receive a report from Maggie Freeman, Head of Service 14-19, which invites the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee to consider the Strategic Priorities for 16 – 19 (25) Education and Training for 2015/16 which is due to be considered by the Executive on 7 October 2014)

Consideration was given to a report which invited the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee to consider a report on the Strategic Priorities for 16 – 19 (25) Education and Training for 2015/16 which was due to be considered by the Executive on 7 October 2014.

The Committee was guided through the report by the Head of Service 14-19, and the following was highlighted:

·         Members had previously been concerned regarding the drop in the participation rate at 17 years of age.  It was reported that from 2015, young people would be required to remain in education or training until their 18^th birthday, but they would be encouraged to stay until they completed their learning;

·         The local authority would continue to support young people who were NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training);

·         It was thought that young people were choosing courses for the wrong reasons, and schools would continue to be encouraged to develop careers guidance;

·         Members were reassured that colleges worked hard to re-engage with young people who had dropped out of their courses early.  There was a bigger issue when young people dropped out further into a course as it was too late for them to start a new course.  Officers were trying to persuade colleges to have more flexible start dates;

·         A survey would be carried out to examine how public transport and timetables impacted on a young person and their participation;

·         There was a duty to encourage young people to participate, but the local authority could not take any action if the young person chose not to participate;

·         Even though young people were staying in a learning environment for longer, at 19, they were not always going into employment;

·         The Employment and Skills Board (ESB) was working hard to encourage providers to offer courses which were beneficial to the economic growth of the county;

Members were provided with the opportunity to ask questions to the officers present in relation to the information contained within the report, and some of the points raised during discussion included the following:

·         The end of statutory education was still 16 years of age;

·         One of the barriers to participation was that young people would arrive to start a course, and be told that it was no longer running;

·         It was noted that Lincoln College had been shocked by the number of applications it had received from 16 year olds at the end of August;

·         A survey was conducted every summer with schools around what careers guidance was being provided to pupils.  Most schools in Lincolnshire were purchasing some careers provision from the local authority;

·         Equestrian courses would continue to run at Bishop Burton College at their new location on the Riseholme campus.  It was believed that the needs of students would continue to be met at all campuses;

·         A lot of funding for further education would come through the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and so it would be important to have good links;

·         It was noted that in terms of a young person's progression from further education a lot depended on A level results achieved;

·         The majority of secondary schools were now academies and so the County Council had a limited amount of influence regarding the offer to pupils;

·         More would be done to influence the colleges in terms of visibility and advertising of the courses offered;

·         Officers would start working on an action plan immediately after the strategic priorities report had been considered by the Executive;

·         It was commented that Connexions had been a very good service, but it was noted that it was a government decision to remove the Connexions service;

·         Work was ongoing with the Employment and Skills Board to identify what the future skills needs for Lincolnshire would be;

It was suggested that the recommendations be agreed and the Committee looked forward to receiving the completed action plan.  It was hoped that there would be improved outcomes in 2015.

RESOLVED

1.    That the Committee support the recommendations to the Executive set out in the report;

2.    That the following comment be passed to the Executive:

·         The Committee looked forward to seeing the action plan and hoped that the new approach would lead to better outcomes for next year.