Agenda item

Please can you introduce yourself and outline your role and responsibilities?

I am the Head of the 14 -19 Entitlement Team at KCC. My role is to steer strategy and give strategic leadership. My team was formed 5 years ago to address the fact that vocational education was not being sufficiently covered by the secondary school curriculum.  It was not applicable for the needs of those pupils who were not able to pursue an academic route, and did not prepare them for employment.  KCC invested £20 million, which set up vocational centres (of which, there are now 25 in the county), but this provision was for 14 – 19 year olds only. KCC was praised in the Wolf report and also by the Audit Commission for its approach. It introduced a new Diploma course to enhance the employability of young people, and some 8,500 14 – 16 year olds have so far benefitted from it. 

When the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) was disbanded, their staff also came into the KCC and my team expanded, although no funding has materialised for any additional activity. We have now gained the Connexions contract, so the team changed again and we now have a broader role.  The Connexions role we took on was to provide IAG to a targeted group, ie those who were at risk of disengaging, and support young people at key points, and to work with those who are NEET.

We need to look after and meet the needs of learners and employers.  We also cover the careers service IAG role, for which there is £15 million in government grants to influence the offer and build capacity, although this funding will cease in March 2012.  We have to track all 16+ learners and ensure that all partners (schools, employers, etc) are involved in shaping the programme.  KCC has put in £10 million for this extra work but this might end when the government funding ends.

Our key role is planning and working with providers on the offer to young people of 16+.  We look at the locality and the entitlement and use data, including the economic profile of the district.  From this we can identify mismatches in needs and provision.

We provide a high-quality IAG website, which we know is used by 91% of year 11 pupils, and for this we broker good quality data.  We also provide a helpline service for young people and their parents and carers.  We find that October is a busy time for young people coming for advice and guidance, as they have dropped out of a course and need support to make new choices.  My team bridges young people and colleges, and the service we offer has to be very personally tailored.  We manage the 25 Vocational Centres I mentioned earlier.

The new Education Bill in October 2011 will affect what we do, as well as the introduction of the National Careers Service in 2012, and we must be ready for these major changes.  Other recent changes, such as the ending of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) scheme, which helped support young people financially while they studied, has changed young people’s work patterns, and from this change there is more danger now that they will drop out of a course as they cannot afford to stay on it.

What connection do you have to the Youth Service?

We used to have a link via Angela Slaven, but I am now in discussion with Nigel Baker on how we can link together. We could possibly include some detached youth workers in the vocational centres. This gives an interesting opportunity for cross-working.

You say that part of your team’s role is planning, but how do you follow through and influence things getting done?

Getting it done depends on strategic partnerships.  The 14 – 19 Forum sets priorities and has good engagement and influence, but no direct power to move things forward.  There will be a ‘stock-take’ in September 2011 of how various bodies fit together.  The Local Authority can intervene, for example, to seek more Level 3 provision, and I’d like to see this role being more robust in the future.  National funding mechanisms are a barrier as they rely solely on success data, so we need to address this. I will be making a recommendation to the Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA) to address this lack of incentive.  Lots of young people undertake Level 1 training but few do Level 3, which employers most need.

We have been told that employers also place importance on attitude and personal qualities.  Do we build these elements in to the training we provide to young people?

It is possible to add ‘soft’ qualifications to increase the number of young people who pass courses. Qualifications have to be fit for purpose, and emphasis is still on creativity and innovation rather than punctuality and attendance, which employers want.  Some courses include and emphasise the element which will help them score best in league tables, sometimes at the expense of enhancing young people’s employability.

There has been a suggestion that the Freedom Pass be extended to include 17 and 18 year olds.  What impact might this have on young people accessing courses and work?

We are working on data now to show the likely impact of this, and there will be some recommendations to Cabinet in June about subsidising the Pass beyond 16.  It is likely to have a big impact on opening up part-time and weekend employment options. I hope colleges will contribute to this to share the financial risk, and it could be used as a lever for colleges to change their offer.  As we seek to extend opportunities for Apprenticeships, etc, an extended Freedom Pass will be a huge incentive.

Will your team take over strategic planning, control and funding of all IAG services?

Yes. A transition plan is in place, and we need to be ready for April 2012, when the government specification will be known.  This will emerge as part of the National Careers Service.  KCC is looking at what role it wishes to take in Kent’s version of the National Careers Service.

We are looking at pastoral care as part of the student journey.  Can you comment on the provision of this? 

This varies, as a statutory requirement to provide it has now been revoked. Legislation around this is now permissive rather than prescriptive, so it’s very open as to what providers choose to provide, and how.  

The big increase in course fees will inevitably deter some young people from going to University.  What sort of picture can we expect to see for those who do not go?

Advisors have a moral obligation to provide young people with the right information about student loans, and there is a lot of misinformation around at the moment, which does not give a clear picture.  For example, many young people are unaware that, until someone is earning £30,000 per year, they do not need to make any repayment of their student loan.  There are also other options available for Higher Education; students can leave full time education at 18 and train in a job, or access higher courses in places other than at University.

We’ve heard about apprenticeships, but don’t these tend to be mostly in jobs that boys want to do?  What equivalent is there for girls?

‘Apprenticeships’ is a very broad description, and there are many options which interest and attract young women, eg in the Health and Social Care sector. I don’t believe there is a gender imbalance.  I think energy should be re-focussed on apprenticeships.  Some parents have a negative image of apprenticeships.  It would also be helpful to have a pre-apprenticeship pathway. Only 51% of young people pass English and Maths at Level 2 and we need to increase this.

What can KCC do to influence the breadth of IAG that is made available?

By combining its energies around how young people are engaged, and by having a good communication strategy. We need to be innovative and use social networking sites and engage young people in the democratic process.

We need to de-silo the youth agenda!

Does legislation and bureaucracy get in the way – eg health and safety, data protection, etc?

Health and Safety requirements can trip up young people going into all sorts of jobs which involve transport and logistics, and we need to mentor more employers to encourage them to take on more young people.  There is some duplication here, and support needs to be co-ordinated. Employers need to be able to see what it is in it for them.

How can this Select Committee help you?

We work in a diverse landscape in which 80 – 90% of schools are not in Local Authority control. Our role is to support vulnerable young people.  We need to be clear of our strategic direction and hold providers to account for their culture and attitude. The Select Committee can be part of this.

How do you cater for looked after children (LAC)?

This group traditionally moves around a lot and they cannot take their accredited learning with them from one placement to another.  As they have no transferable record of their achievements to take with them, they can find themselves having to start at a lower level and re-do things they have already completed, and this can be very de-motivating. What they need is an electronically transferable record that they can own and be proud of.  This can hopefully be developed via the National Careers Service.

One observation that I would make is that the removal of various government grants has had a disproportionately large impact on those aged 14 – 24, and this is also an area of extensive youth unemployment.  Much of the KCC’s Early Intervention Grant must be directed to support other areas such as Early Years provision and social care, so there is not much left for the agenda for 14 – 19 year olds.