Issue - meetings

The Board considered a report from the Executive Director of Children’s Services, which gave the annual NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) and ‘Not Known’ figures for Halton and the reasons for growth of the number of young people who were NEET.

The Education and Skills Act 2008 placed two raising participation age related duties on local authorities regarding academic aged 16-17 year olds as follows:

·       To promote the effective participation in education and training of 16 and 17 year olds in their area, with a view to ensuring that those persons fulfilled the duty to participate in education or training; and

·       To make arrangements to identify 16 and 17 year olds who were not participating in education or training.

The report and accompanying presentation described the work of the 14-19 Team at Halton who provided careers guidance and support to those who were not participating and informed how they worked with schools to support young people to transition from Year 11 into Post 16 education. 

It was noted that paragraph 3.10.5 required a correction.  The percentage referred to in 2021 should read 95.8%, not 98.8%.

The reasons why NEET and Not Known figures were rising were outlined in the presentation.  There were multiple issues affecting provision in Halton, these were outlined and the provision that remained was presented to the Board.  

Members were provided with statistics for Halton against national, regional, LCR and statistical neighbours where it was noted that Halton had seen the highest overall increase in NEETS since 2018/19.

The following responses were provided to Members questions:

·       Following encouragement and hard work from the Council, The Growth Company was now  in Halton, based at Murdishaw Community Centre.  They were funded by the Department for Education (DfE), this was explained to the Board.  They were offering 30 Level 1 and 2 places currently and hoped to increase this once they had more capacity;

·       In relation to Council properties, an Education Officer was a member of the Asset Management Working Group who were looking at potential vacant properties for future use by other post 16 providers;

·       The possibility of the Council setting up its own provision for 16-18 year olds was unlikely due to funding, as there would be set up costs to pay for and there would be a gap one year before any DfE funding was made available.  The Growth Company had set up in Halton despite these risks; and

·       Further information on The Growth Company in relation to progression for students and attendance of Widnes students would be provided.

Members understood the challenges faced with provision and welcomed the introduction of Level 1 and 2 courses for students by this company, as there were no others being offered in Halton.

RESOLVED:  That the report be noted.