Agenda item

            The Director of Economic Development provided an update on the development work in improving the employability outcomes of young people at risk and the review of delivery which was currently underway.

            He provided an overview of the proposed new intervention – “Bridges to Progression” – intended to be developed through the Belfast Labour Market Partnership.

            He advised that the Council’s employability and skills support in this area had focused on developing a continuum of support and testing potential solutions for those young people, who were not in education, employment or training, and who would not generally participate in existing provision. These interventions included:

·        GCSE Support Programme - In total, 517 young people across the city had benefitted from access to support to help with their GCSE English and GCSE Maths over the last year. This support had taken the form of both schools-based and community-based classes, revision and exam preparation;

·        Youth Support Programme – supported 170 young people (14-24 years old) who were disengaged and aimed to create a progression pathway in Belfast for young people at risk, thereby reducing the number that were disengaging at an early age. Scheduled to run until September 2023, the Council was likely to engage a further 160 young people;

·        Summer Work Experience Programme - Piloted in summer 2022, this intervention was aligned with the Youth Support Programme and targeted young people aged 14-16 years at highest risk or who had already disengaged from the formal education system. The programme offered six weeks paid work experience at £40 per week (equivalent to EMA) and was designed to expose participants to a range of employment opportunities and pathways into various sectors.

            The Director of Economic Development advised that work was currently underway to evaluate and review all of the activity within this space. When this was completed, the Committee would be asked to consider recommendations, which would focus on a continuum of supports at critical stages for young people and/or where there was no existing provision or barriers to entry and engagement.

            The Committee was reminded that the Labour Market Partnerships (LMPs) represented a cross-governmental approach to co-designing a sustainable future strategic employment offer. The Belfast LMP was focused on four main strategic and cross-cutting themes: Quickly Back to Work; Increasing opportunities; No-one left Behind; and Catching-up.

            Under the theme No-one Left Behind, the Belfast LMPs had agreed that the action plan included a proposed intervention to ‘turn the curve’ on the poor outcomes for young people on Training for Success/Skills for Life and Work programme (TfS/SfL&W) programmes in Belfast which The Department for Education had reported in the illustration below:

            The research indicated that less than 1 in 30 of the young people engaging on those interventions were entering a positive destination (employment/further training) at the end of the programme. In order to understand the reasons behind this performance, officers had been engaging with providers across the city and had co-designed a bridging intervention that aimed to increase the positive outcomes for young people and maximise the impact of the mainstream programme.

            The Director of Economic Development provided an overview of the Skills for Life and Work training programme for young people who wanted to develop their skills and get ready for work. He explained that the Bridges to Progression had been developed to work alongside the existing provision by providing extra support for those participants at risk of early exit from the programme, in order to retain their engagement and enhance their prospects of a positive outcome. He described the barriers young people on the programme experienced, together with the contributory factors to the high attrition levels.

            He advised that, having explored a range of potential approaches, it was proposed that the most expedient methodology for managing this intervention was to set aside an allocation of up to £90,000 from the Labour Market Partnership budget that would be ringfenced for the Belfast-based Training for Success/Skills for Life and Work providers. Should the providers identify that a participant was facing a specific area of challenge that was not related to the core programme content but that risked them falling out of provision, they could make the case to access funding to pull in the relevant support services or refer the individual towards the support. He reported that this pilot programme would target at least 120 young people at risk, and it was likely that the investment would be used for referrals to a range of support services including:

·        Mental health support and counselling;

·        One-to-one coaching;

·        Housing support and advice;

·        Self-esteem and confidence building;

·        Childcare and parenting support;

·        Travel and living costs where appropriate;

·        Learning support to complete (for example, where a participant had ‘run out of time’ and could not complete the accreditation);and

·        Addiction support services – gambling, alcohol, drug use etc.

            He highlighted the providers that hold Training for Success/Skills for Life and Work contracts with DfE within Belfast and that this support would specifically work with: Workforce Training; Springvale Training; Dairyfarm/People 1st; Impact Training; Academy Hair and Beauty Training School; Belfast Metropolitan College; Belfast Central Training; Bryson FutureSkills; Rutledge Training; and Springboard Opportunities.

            The Director of Economic Development explained further how the Bridges to Progression fund would be used and pointed out that officers would ensure that delivery did not duplicate, but rather add value to, this provision in order to improve employability outcomes for participants of Training for Success/Skills for Life & Work.

            He advised that, subject to the Council’s endorsement, officers would undertake assessment of the applications from Training for Success/Skills for Life and Work providers for funding for participants in line with the approach detailed in the report. He confirmed that a report would be presented at a future meeting of the Committee outlining the outcomes and learning from this approach, and going forward, Bridges to Progression would be factored into to the recommendations of the review of all youth-focused

employability and skills interventions.

            During discussion, in answer to a Member’s question on the potential to offend participants by using the term ‘NEET’ (young people who were not in education, employment or training) in the report, the Director of Economic Development advised that he would address this terminology in future reports. He also explained further details of the employment outcomes and the support given to the participants of the programme.

            During further discussion, the Committee praised the work of the Youth Programmes, in particular the GCSE Support Programme.

            The Committee:

·        Noted the development work and activity to date in improving the employability outcomes of young people at risk and the review of delivery currently underway; and

·        Noted the proposal to manage the Bridges to Progression funding distribution in partnership with Training for Success/Skills for Life and Work providers through an agreed application process on behalf of those young people identified.