Committee will have the opportunity to scrutinise the work of the Careers
Service. Mr Steve Walker and Jayne Pinkney will be in attendance to answer Committee’s previously prepared questions, detailed in Appendix A to this agenda.
This will be followed by a period of supplementary questioning from the Committee
Minutes:
The Committee had the opportunity to scrutinise the work of the Careers Guidance Service, Mr Steve Walker was in attendance to answer the Committee’s previously prepared questions, by way of presentation and a period of supplementary questioning.
The questions which had been posed were as follows: -
• How “effective” are schools and Colleges at carrying out their statutory duty for Careers Guidance in terms of quality and impact as outlined by the Education Act 2011?
• What Careers Advice and Guidance will the local authority be delivering from September and what support will young people be able to access?
• More specifically, how will young people access Careers advice once they have left mainstream education and how will they be supported into training or employment?
• How might the District Council in West Lindsey ensure that young people are getting access to independent and impartial careers advice?
• NEETs. Where does the responsibility fall for monitoring NEETS as this was traditionally measured and collated by Connexions?
The Chairman welcomed Mr Walker to the meeting and invited him to make his presentation to Members.
In opening Members were provided with context of the issue, what the current youth unemployment figures were for the District , how this compared to the rest of the County, the region and nationally and what were considered to be the key issues currently facing the service provided.
The Local Picture was as follows, with Average levels of unemployment during September 2015 to May 2016 being recorded as below: -
|
|
Y12 |
Y13 |
|
West Lindsey |
1.1% |
2.2% |
|
Lincolnshire |
1.4% |
2.7% |
|
East Midlands |
2.0% |
3.8% |
|
England |
2.0% |
4.0% |
In numbers terms for West Lindsey, this equated as follows: -
|
Month |
NEET |
|
|
Y12 |
Y13 |
|
|
September |
19 |
37 |
|
October |
3 |
17 |
|
November |
11 |
20 |
|
December |
15 |
23 |
|
January |
16 |
25 |
|
February |
14 |
23 |
|
March |
11 |
22 |
|
April |
11 |
23 |
|
May |
12 |
20 |
The Committee noted that as the numbers were relatively low, and as such there was no critical mass, this made accessing funding schemes particularly difficult. Other local issues which needed to be overcome included
• The Wide geographical area throughout which this element of the community were spread, again affecting the critical mass required to access a number of funding streams.
• Accessing support – reduced public funding over recent years had seen a number of programmes previously on offer disappear.
• Lack of Apprenticeships/Traineeships – having run a search of this type of vacancy within a 15 mile radius of Gainsborough there were currently only 89 vacancies; 82 intermediate level and 7 advanced level, there were no Apprenticeships/Traineeships at a degree level currently on offer in Gainsborough. West Lindsey currently had 7366 persons eligible for work based learning under 20, of these currently 248 (3.7%) were in work based learning jobs, 22 were classed as other and only 2 were undertaking traineeships. The large majority of 16-19 year olds were still choosing to remain in full time education / college
• History of worklessness- unfortunately this was a reported inhibitor in a number of Gainsborough households and meant aspirations could often be low.
Moving on to the effectiveness of schools and colleges in providing career guidance, the Committee noted that statutory guidance for governing bodies, school leaders and school staff had been issued in March 2015 entitled “Careers guidance and inspiration in schools”. This document set out the guidelines within which all schools were currently expected to work. The Statutory duty, had since 2012 lay with schools (previously a function of the local authority) and they were free to determine
• How they meet the duties laid out in the statutory guidance
• What services they provided; and
• Which students could access the services
The effectiveness of the guidance they offered was currently assessed by Governors, Ofsted and School Destination Measures.
With regard to the latter, data from 2013/14 was shared with the Committee to demonstrate this. It was acknowledged that this was a blunt tool and made no allowance for differing circumstances, for example a particularly difficult cohort.
However it was noted that new Statutory guidance was awaited and the Gatesby Foundation report entitled “Good Careers” was likely to form the basis for this. It was also hoped that this would address the issues currently being reported, such as certain trainers not being permitted within schools. Furthermore Colleges and WBL providers would likely have the means to report schools not engaging with them under new guidance
The Governance and Civic Officer undertook to source and provide Members with a copy of the Gatesby Foundation report.
It was noted that the Lincolnshire County Council careers guidance service would cease in September 2016, after this time support would be offered by the National Careers Service, with currently two posts planned for the East Midlands. Work Coaches, through the Job Centre, would also be made available for schools to access.
Moving onto Local Authority Support and monitoring of NEETs, Members noted this was a statutory function of the local authority and statutory guidance had been issued in September 2014. From July 2016, in preparation for the demise of the service the County Council would have the following measures in place: -
• Tracking Team
• Revamped website for information and advice
• Individualised support for those with additional factors
• Support to those claiming JSA
Affected persons would be able to access other support through a wide range of sources including: -
• National Careers Service:-
– Website
– On-line chat facility
– Telephone help line
• Wide range of websites
• Foundation Study Programme Providers
• Traineeship Providers
• ESF/Lottery Projects
In conclusion, Mr Walker outlined the ways in which he considered an authority like West Lindsey, with no statutory responsibilities, may be able to assist, including:
• Investigating Lincoln CC model of a hub for unemployed
• Obtaining data from LCC – initiate contact
• Link with other advice organisations/projects
• Champion the need for schools to deliver quality careers support
• Promote Apprenticeships and Traineeships
Discussion ensued and Members were in agreement that they needed to be able to access the data of affected persons but this had proved difficult due to data protection and the absence of data sharing agreements.
Members also expressed concern that so much of a schools ability was assessed purely around its exam results, that there are schools who are putting all their focus into this and not preparing young people for leaving school and the working world.
In response to Members questions, Mr Walker and the Employment and Skills Officer outlined to Members what a traineeship was. It was noted that these usually lasted around 6 months and had no pay attached; this made them not that inviting to young people. They often attracted the hard to reach groups, however this in turn brought about issues of commitment, making them also not that attractive for employers.
The Chairman thanked Mr Walker for his informative presentation and wished him well for the future.