SCRUTINY REVIEW

EMPLOYMENT OF YOUNG PEOPLE 19-25

REPORT OF THE PERFORMANCE REVIEW COMMITTEE

London Borough of Islington October 2007

FOREWORD FROM CHAIR Many of Islington’s young adults face an uncertain future. Employers in London’s labour market have increasingly high expectations and they demand ever more qualified workers. Competition for many basic, entry level jobs is especially intense. However, poor educational attainment in our Borough means that a significant proportion of our young people find themselves poorly-equipped to compete for decently paid jobs. At age 16, only a half of the Borough’s school students are achieving the basic level of attainment, 5 good GCSE passes. As a result, we see that Islington has unusually high levels of unemployment amongst those aged 18 to 24. Almost 1 in 10 young adults are claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance and a similar proportion are receiving other forms of benefit such as Lone Parent Income Support or Incapacity Benefit. We believe that too many of our young people have been poorly prepared for the world of work. There are profound structural problems that prevent many of our young people taking advantage of the jobs available in London’s buoyant economy. However, some significant changes are already underway, especially the development of a new 14-19 offer which provides a stronger work-based and vocational curriculum. Many of the initiatives that are going to benefit our next generation of young adults are the result of national government policies. Others are the product of local endeavours. We need to do more. In particular, the Borough and its partners must act more decisively to prevent the disaffection and alienation that result in a small minority of young people who disengage from education at an early age. We need to engage with employers and others who can give a second chance to many youngsters and help bring them closer to the world of work. We also need to improve the quality of guidance services and ensure that targeted support is available to more vulnerable young people. The Council itself is a major employer in the Borough yet only 3% of our own workforce is aged 18 to 24. So we also need to review the Council’s own recruitment policies and encourage other public sector partners, especially in social care, healthcare and housing, to recruit young adults from our Borough. The review committee particularly recommends that Islington Strategic Partnership should take responsibility for increasing employment rates amongst Islington’s population, beginning with a focus on young adults. We believe this should be piloted in the priority neighbourhoods that have been identified as the most disadvantaged areas in the Borough. COUNCILLOR PAUL CONVERY CHAIR, PERFORMANCE REVIEW COMMITTEE

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MEMBERSHIP OF THE PERFORMANCE REVIEW COMMITTEE COUNCILLORS 2007/2008 2006/2007

PAUL CONVERY (CHAIR) PAUL CONVERY (CHAIR) GEORGE ALLAN (VICE-CHAIR) RHODRI JAMIESON BALL (VICE-CHAIR) FIONA DUNLOP JOAN COUPLAND LAURA WILLOUGHBY GARY DOOLAN STEFAN KASPRZYK DANIEL HULLS DANIEL HULLS STEFAN KASPRZYK JANET BURGESS PAULA BELFORD MICHAEL O'SULLIVAN

MERAL ECE

SUBSTITUTE MEMBERS

PAULA BELFORD GREG FOXSMITH ANNA BERENT RUTH POLLING DONNA BOFFA BARBARA SMITH EMILY FIERAN-REED LAURA WILLOUGHBY BARRY EDWARDS BARRY EDWARDS RICHARD WATTS RICHARD WATTS JOAN COUPLAND RICHARD GREENING BARBARA SIDNELL BARBARA SIDNELL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Performance Review Committee would like to thank all those who gave evidence particularly the young people at the City YMCA who we visited and to individuals who contributed to this report. OFFICER SUPPORT Scrutiny and Democratic Services: Peter Moore Ass. Director of Environment & Regeneration: Steve Mason Ass. Director of Children's Services: Frances Carter

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RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE The Committee recognises that short-term unemployment has risen significantly amongst young adults in the Borough and believes that a more intensive approach is required to strengthen employability initiatives currently being undertaken. We recommend that the following measures be put in place to assist such initiatives: 1. Develop and improve the employability of young people leaving school through the 14-19 partnership by:

Supporting the development of the new work related diplomas delivered collaboratively between schools and the college accessible to all pupils in Islington, in particular, by developing new lines of learning in vocational skills and growth sectors that are in-demand by employers

Improve the quality of careers education and advice available to all Islington pupils

Strengthen the relationships between schools and employers and ensure all

Islington pupils have access to work experience, mentoring and other educational experiences to support career choices and employability skills through the Education Business Partnership (EBP)

Build on the success of the Career Start programme for care leavers to develop

local opportunities for training and employment for local young people

The Council should continue to focus on provided targeted support for vulnerable and disengaged young people, in particular to extend and expand the current re-engagement programmes funded though the Local Area Agreement (LAA) aimed at young people at risk of becoming NEET or already 'long term' NEET – including working with schemes such as Prospex and other voluntary agencies to increase work experience opportunities

Develop new intermediate provision that supports the Entry to Employment

programme (“E2E”) as both a preparation for E2E and as a bridge into college or work-based learning after E2E

2. The Islington Strategic Partnership (ISP) should take the lead role to co-ordinate work to improve employment opportunities for young people in the borough. The ISP should consider establishing a Work and Skills Board to coordinate activities leading to achievement of LAA employment outcomes for all age groups – beginning first with a focus on young adults. The ISP should consider a pilot scheme offering a comprehensive employment support service (mainly for young adults) targeted on one or more of the 8 neighbourhood management areas. 3. Job Centre Plus and other relevant agencies should report to the ISP on an annual basis on the trends of unemployment in Islington,particularly amongst young people and possible reasons therefore in order that appropriate measures can be taken at an early stage to address this situation. 4. Opportunities should be created for semi supported employment and training opportunities by the Council and other public sector employers.

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5. The Council should consider what opportunities and facilities it can make available to increase employability of young people and work with the ISP and other partnership providers, particularly within the Islington Strategic Partnership to employ local young people, with a particular focus on the 19-25 age group. 6. Council should consider introducing a trainee school leaver scheme for local young people initially with a pilot scheme for 10 young people to be employed across all Council departments to give them work experience and an insight into job opportunities within the Council and with a view to possible employment at the end of the process. 7. Schools have a responsibility to ensure that young people leave school adequately prepared for work and schools should introduce enrichment schemes. Schools that are successful in this should be rewarded and the Director of Children's Services, CEA@Islington and schools should work together to put such schemes in place. 8. Endorse the introduction of the Talent Management Strategy by the Council.

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1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Overview Committee approved the priority topics for scrutiny at its meeting on

15th June 2006. 1.2 The Performance Review Committee, as part of its work programme for the year,

was asked to undertake a review to look at measures that could be taken by the Council and partners to address dissatisfaction amongst young adults and increase employment of young people aged 19 – 25.

2. OBJECTIVES The objectives of the review were as follows:

To understand the causes and effects of disaffection amongst young adults in Islington To understand the nature of support available to young adults to assist them in

moving on from being not in education or training or employment To identify steps which the Council and partners could take to reduce levels of

disaffection in young adults To identify specifically measures to address dissatisfaction in young adults in

different BME communities in Islington To consider specifically how disaffected young adults can be supported into

employment 3. METHODOLOGY AND TIMETABLING 3.1 Following agreement of the Scrutiny Initiation Document (SID) officers designed a

work programme for the committee meetings, visits and documentary evidence. 3.2 The submissions received are detailed in the minutes of the meeting of the

Performance Review Committee and the written evidence available on the Council Democracy website (www.islington.gov.uk/democracy) or from the Scrutiny Section at the Town Hall (Tel. No. 020 7527 3252).

4. BACKGROUND 4.1.1 The Performance Review Committee as one of its scrutiny topics for the

forthcoming year 2006/07 was tasked with making recommendations on measures to be taken by the Council and partners to address disaffection amongst young adults and increase employment amongst young people aged 19 –25.

4.2 There is widespread concern amongst policy makers, practitioners and the wider

community about the fortunes of 'vulnerable' young people who are not in education, employment or training. (NEET’s).

4.3 With increasing participation in post-compulsory education and labour market

trends leading to an increase in demand for highly skilled workers, unqualified and poorly qualified young people have become more marginalised.

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4.4 Some of the evidence to justify this concern is the relatively high number of young

adults who are unemployed. There were 1680 job seeker allowance claimants in Islington aged 18-24 as at July 2006, which is 9.3% of the resident population aged 18-24.

4.5 This compares with 3520 job seekers allowance claimants in age range 25-49,

which is 3.6% of that population. Claimants aged 18-24 represent 32% of claimants aged 18-49, whereas an equitable proportion (based on an even distribution of claimants across the age range) would be 21%. These numbers related to job seekers allowance claimants only and do not capture those young adults who are completely outside the system, which means that the true levels of unemployment in this age range will be higher.

4.6 This is not a problem specific to London (unemployment levels in this age group are

only slightly higher than London as a whole and are lower than England levels), but it is clearly a matter of concern that a significant proportion of young people are not engaged in economic activity at a time when they should be establishing themselves in the labour market and gaining experience and orientation necessary for a successful working life. The Council has a clear statutory responsibility for children and young people focused on the outcomes required by Every Child Matters : Change for Children agenda which aims for 'every child whatever their background or their circumstances' to have the support they need to be healthy, stay safe and enjoy and achieve economic well being.

4.7 The statutory duty is to work towards these outcomes with children and young

people (apart from those with special needs or a disability) beyond that age. 4.8 The Committee also looked at what the Council and partners are doing together to

prevent and address disaffection in young adults beyond the age of 19, with particular reference to the issue of achieving economic well being. However it should be recognised that the reason why the majority of 19-24 year olds who were not in work was due to the poor educational achievement that they had and there was a need to look at this area in detail, as it had a major effect on their future work opportunities.

4.9 The review was intended as a 'snapshot' review in order to look at this issue in a

short period of time. Given the heavy work programme of the Committee in the previous municipal year the review has extended longer than previously planned.

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5. THE COMMITTEE'S FINDINGS 5.1 The Committee received an initial presentation from Steve Mason, Assistant

Director of Environment and Regeneration at its meeting on 10th October 2006. 5.2 The Committee were informed that there were high levels of young people 16-18 in

Islington who were not in education, employment and training (NEET’s). However recent figures have show dramatic improvement over the last 2 years beyond the LAA targets with a percentage of 8.2% for June 2007.

5.3 As referred to in the background to the report there were 1680 job seeker allowance

claimants (9.3% of the population) aged 18-24 and this represented 32% of all claimants.

5.4 Given the concerns often expressed about crime and anti-social behaviour amongst

young people the Committee questioned whether there was a co-relation between high crime levels and the involvement of young adults.

5.5 The Committee were pleased to learn that the information available did not support

this link and that 19-25 year olds were only accused of 5.43% of all recorded crime from April 2005 - March 2006.

5.6 The Committee noted that the GLA had recently carried out a study of population

across London, which highlighted that in many cases taking a job did not work out beneficially financially for many people because of the loss of benefits. In addition there were problems with Education Maintenance Allowances, which were often not payable for college courses or training if somebody was over the age of 18, when starting the course or training.

5.7 Furthermore the benefits system could act as a disincentive to a lot of unemployed

young people as they also had parents who were unemployed and were therefore unwilling to go for jobs because this would affect benefit entitlements.

5.8 The Committee were concerned that DfEs funding was only available and targeted

up until the age of 19 and for the young offending team to the age of 18. 5.9 The Committee visited Job Centre Plus, which covered the areas of L.B.Islington,

Camden, Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. 5.10 Job Centre Plus informed us that 18-24 year olds were covered by the New Deal

programme and when a customer attended Job Centre Plus they would be offered employment or have their employability needs addressed.

5.11 There was sufficient provision within the system to be able to refer customers for

jobs and it was not a question of capacity but of people not turning up for interview or to start a job.

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5.12 Job Centre Plus also informed us that only 60% of employers had stated that they

were happy with the clients being referred to them and that the Job Centre were concerned that the matching/screening element had dropped by 15% in the last 18 months.

5.13 The durability of job entry was classified as a 13 week period and approximately the

target of 80% was being met, however employers were still reporting that the skills of the workforce needed to be better addressed. However it was felt that young people were leaving school better qualified than in the past and that it was employers expectations which had risen. The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) was endeavouring to put extra provision in place, but there was a problem in getting some young adults to engage and attend interviews and Job Centre personal advisers needed to check that clients were 'sellable' to employers. Clients attending Job Centre Plus were given a rating on basic skills assessment.

5.14 The Committee were of the view that Job Centre Plus and other relevant agencies

should report to the ISP on an annual basis on the trends of employment in Islington, particularly amongst young people given the level of unemployment and possible reasons therefore in order that appropriate reasons can be taken at an early stage to address this situation.

5.15 In addition the Islington Strategic Partnership (ISP) should also take the lead role to

co-ordinate work to improve employment opportunities for young people in the borough.

5.16 The ISP should also consider establishing a works and skills board to co-ordinate

activities leading to the achievement of LAA employment outcomes for all age groups, beginning first with a focus on young adults. The ISP should also consider a pilot scheme offering a comprehensive employment support service, mainly for young adults, targeted on one or more of the 8 neighbourhood management areas.

5.17 The Committee were also informed that the Mayor of London was looking to set up

a Skills and Employment Board and Job Centre Plus and the LSC were waiting to formulate proposals in order to agree a joint London plan. Adult learning options were in place to train clients up to NVQ Level 2 and there was a skills pilot through the LSC to undertake a skills assessment of young people.

5.18 Colleges had been engaged to deliver basic skills training via the LSC and whilst

doing reasonably well compared to other London job centre counterparts, it was not likely that their target would be met that year, however there had been 300 referrals across the four boroughs for elements of basic skills training.

5.19 The Committee also received evidence from Janine Brady, Head of Young People

Services and Sally Gran, Service Manager, Youth Offending Team of LBI Islington. 5.20 The Committee were concerned that one of the reasons that so many Islington 19-

25 year olds were not in education, employment or training was that they had not achieved well at school and we were interested to learn what was in place for such circumstances.

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5.21 Janine Brady informed us that personal advisers from Connexions were based in secondary schools, colleges and in community settings, to provide young people with the support they needed to get the best out of their education and to have the information they needed to make good choices post 16. This included identifying barriers to learning and employment and brokering packages of support to equip young people with the skills they need to be ready for work.

5.22 The Listen Up Project was a borough-wide project to promote, across all Council

departments and with partners, the 'Hear by Rights' standards for the active participation of children and young people in all aspects of service planning, delivery and evaluation. There was also a range of forums for young people to have a voice.

5.23 We were pleased to learn that there was also targeted support for young people to

engage in activities and programmes and to address barriers to learning and progression. This was based in community settings and with partners and provided a range of alternative education opportunities at level 1 and level 2 and key skills. Freightliners Farm, Summer University, Islington Boat Club, Access to Sport and Spark Plug, all offer accredited learning programmes for young people.

5.24 Islington is also one of the national pilots of the Activity Agreement Scheme and

young people who sign the agreement received a payment of £30 per week during the time that they are actively engaged in agreed positive activity programmes.

5.25 A number of initiatives have been taken to address the barriers to education,

employment and training. The 14-19 Partnership, NEET Strategy brings all partners together to reduce the number of young people in the NEET group to below 8% by 2009 (LAA stretch targets). This currently stands at 8.2%.

5.26 The new 14-19 curriculum entitlement being introduced over the next few years will

offer work based learning pathways and diplomas, with vocational education integrated into the secondary curriculum, as well as a focus on individualised learning and basic skills and it is expected that far more students will remain engaged positively in studying. We are already working with schools to diagnose young people at risk of becoming NEET and developing programmes for them .

5.27 The work based learning and vocational offer to young people, as part of the 14-19

curriculum, is well supported and effective and a new LAA funded reengagement programme involving the College and a range of voluntary providers, such as Springboard and the Islington Boat Club,is proving effective in re-engaging young people at risk of becoming NEET or already NEET.

5.28 Work/learning programmes give young people the opportunity to learn life skills and

basic skills training to equip young people with the skills they need for work or college or post 16 education. City and Islington College is the major local provider of post 16 education and a Beacon College and a key player in the 14-19 Partnership.

5.29 There are a range of schemes to support progression to training and employment

for groups of young people at greatest risk of poor outcomes, such as care leavers. Training opportunities for young people have been secured from partners through brokerage schemes managed by regeneration such as Construction Works. There

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is also access to playwork and youth work training programmes and volunteer training. Since 2003 over 100 young people have successfully completed the courses and gone on to find paid work. Work is currently under way to map and coordinate all these initiatives.

5.30 Sally Gran informed us that the Youth Offending Team often dealt with the most

disaffected youth who were often children not attending school. Often a youth had a court order meaning that he / she had to engage with the youth offending service. Once under the Youth Offending Team children could develop a one to one relationship with teachers and care workers, making it easier for them to discuss difficult issues.

5.31 Sally Gran stated that historically the focus of the 14-19 partnership was on schools

and the 85% of children that regularly attended school. In the past vocational work and workplace training could be used to 'dump' children and could also be perceived as a way of rewarding poor behaviour. Now vocational training was being mainstreamed into the new 14-19 curriculum and the new 14-19 partnership and its strategy had a much broader remit.

5.32 The Council was moving towards an integrated youth strategy by 2008 and was

looking at how to pull together all services relating to young people. Youth work in the borough was successful and Islington was one of the highest spending boroughs in the country in this area. It was important that in addition to the universal offer (for which there are national measures and targets), youth services were targeted and that even more was done to target hard to reach young people. It was noted however that work being done in August 2007 showed that Young People’s Services is working with more than two thirds of young people considered by the police to be involved in or at risk of being involved in group disorder. The Safer Islington Partnership was also setting up a mobile Rapid Response team working out of 2 buses, which would significantly increase capacity in this area.

5.33 The Committee were also informed that it was important to spend money on

universal services, which were non-stigmatising and universal services could then be backed up with targeted individual support.

5.34 The Council had also set up an employment scheme for looked after young people

and looked at how the Council could help these young people into employment. It was difficult for these children to get work experience, let alone jobs, however some looked after children were now working for the Council and the scheme had proved successful.

5.35 The Council and other public sector employers should also create opportunities for

semi supported employment and training. The Committee were also of the view that the Council should consider what opportunities and facilities it could make available to increase the employability of young people and work with the ISP and other partnership providers, particularly within the ISP to employ local young people, with a particular focus on the 19-25 age group.

5.36 In addition, given that the Council was a major employer in the borough,

consideration should be given to introducing a trainee school leaver scheme for local young people, initially with a pilot scheme for 10 young people, to be employed across all Council departments to give them work experience and an

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insight into job opportunities within the Council and with a view to possible employment at the end of the process.

5.37 The Committee also received evidence from Matt Calvert from Prospex. 5.38 Prospex had been established with the aim of establishing relationships with young

people and then to support, challenge and do detached work with them. 5.39 Prospex concentrated on 11-21 year olds and whilst this was a different age range

to that covered by the review, Prospex had a work programme to get young people into employment or education, as 9% of the young people were not accessing formal education and therefore were not able to get employment as they had no work experience or formal qualifications.

5.40 We were interested to learn that Prospex had entered into an agreement with Hyde

Housing Association where a number of young people were employed to paint some derelict garages and received a wage. In addition the young people could put this work experience on their CV, which increased their employability prospects. 15 of the 20 young people who had taken part in the scheme had since found full time employment.

5.41 Prospex were also looking to find work placements for young people to try and

broaden their experience. A scheme was in place where at ICSL Accord young people would work for 6 weeks and in the final week they would train up the next group of young people going on the scheme and this had given young people the opportunity of practical work experience.

5.42 The view was expressed that whilst too much Council involvement might result in

increased bureaucracy, a website where organisations could share information and contacts may be worthwhile investigating. In addition it was felt that there were areas where the Council could possibly assist in giving advice for young people, such as in filling in CV's or job applications or training skills.

5.43 At its’ meeting on 1st May 2007 the Committee received evidence from One Step

Ahead, an employment agency based within the borough. 5.44 Step Ahead stated that the vast majority of staff placed were in the 19-25 age group

and that there was no evidence that this group were less employable than other groups that they dealt with. However some school and college leavers came with unrealistic expectations and were setting their sights too high in terms of salary. Employers wanted to employ enthusiastic young people with the right attitude but this message was not getting across to young people through schools, colleges and job centres.

5.45 The Committee noted that around 50% of Islington children did not get 5 A-Cs at

GCSE level and that Step Ahead were of the view that for these children experience would be the biggest factor in enabling them to get a job. Given this Step Ahead tried to find temporary placements to help them gain experience.

5.46 Step Ahead pre-screened applicants and looked for a good attitude and flexibility.

Step Ahead would train applicants if they had low level IT skills.

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5.47 Step Ahead would also liaise with companies where there had been a placement of a problematic young person and would explain to the young person where they were going wrong and the repercussions if they did not rectify their behaviour.

5.48 Work experience, whilst it could be useful, was often not relevant to the specific job

being applied for and it was important for an applicant to have good timekeeping and behaviour. If a person did have previous experience this could be marketed to employers even if it was at a basic level.

5.49 The Committee also received evidence from Khalid Omar of the Muslim Welfare

House Trust that in his view young people did not seem to get good advice or the assistance that they needed to help them in the world of work after they had undertaken work experience. More preliminary careers advice should be given in schools.

5.50 Khalid Omar stated that work needed to be undertaken in the Muslim community

and the community were trying to influence young people by using role models to talk to them about their work and show them real examples of how they could achieve. In addition school leavers tended to have high expectations and want designer clothes and there was a need to manage expectations otherwise this may lead to a negative lifestyle such as crime and drugs, and positive types of behaviour needed to be encouraged.

5.51 Khalid Omar stated that the majority of school leavers that he dealt with had been

involved in crime and in his view in order to move forward it may be necessary to develop personal advisers to go with the young people to work for the first few days and advise them on a dress code and time-keeping etc. A high percentage of the young people who were NEET’s were often from highly vulnerable groups.

5.52 The Committee were informed that with some communities there were often cultural

barriers to employment and in the Asian community if there was a family business children had to help their parents. In addition, in general North Africans came to Britain for work and took basic jobs such as cleaning, whereas the Somali community often had shared businesses.

5.53 Members of the Committee also visited City YMCA to talk to a number of young

people concerning their experiences at school, college and in work. 5.54 Most of the young people interviewed had gone to a variety of Islington schools and

many of them informed us that school had not prepared them for life when they left, especially when they became independent at 18. A number of the young people who had gone on to college expressed similar views that colleges did not teach them life skills.

5.55 The young people expressed the view that employers required experience in

addition to qualifications, and were often of the view that young people were work shy and were bad timekeepers. A number of the young people indicated that employers should take more account of their age and that sometimes the expectations placed on them by employers was too high.

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5.56 The view was also expressed that more emphasis needed to be placed at school on

skills such as preparing CVs, training for interviews and appropriate work experience, as it was felt that many of the work placements arranged by schools at present were unsatisfactory. The only benefit was that it could be added on to a CV.

5.57 Some young people also informed us that they even had been deterred from going

to university as this did not necessarily guarantee a good job and the high level of student debt was a deterrent.

5.58 In addition the influx of foreign labour was seen as a reason why there were less

jobs available, especially low skilled jobs than in the past, as foreign labour was often willing to work for less money than the indigenous population.

5.59 The Committee received evidence that the 14-19 partnership was co-ordinating the

new curriculum entitlement work related diplomas, the first two of which on offer in L.B. Islington would be delivered in 2008 by a consortia of schools with the City and Islington college.

5.60 In addition careers education and advice would be delivered with Connexions and

schools working in partnership and this was being reviewed and improved for 2007/08.

5.61 All pupils in year 10 or 11 went on work experience and enterprise education and

business mentoring was provided for all secondary schools. 5.62 There were also many programmes based in schools and youth projects to develop

leadership skills, personal and social development, such as peer mentoring, Duke of Edinburgh Award, sports coaching training, play and youth work training and opportunities for involvement such as the Listen Up Project.

5.63 The Committee were of the view that there was a need to develop and improve the

employability of young people leaving school through the 14-19 partnership, by supporting the development of the new work related diplomas delivered collaboratively between schools and the college accessible to all pupils in Islington, in particular by developing the new lines of learning in vocational skills and growth sectors that are in demand by employers.

5.64 In addition the Committee felt that there was a need to improve the quality of

careers education and advice available to all Islington pupils. 5.65 It was also felt that there was a need to strengthen the relationships between

schools and employers to ensure that all Islington pupils have access to work experience, mentoring and other educational experiences to support career choices and employability skills through the Education Business Partnership.

5.66 The Committee were also informed that for young people at risk of becoming NEET,

programmes had been developed to help self esteem and personal skills through Positive Activities for Young People (PAYP) and re-engagement programmes to support them back into education and training.

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5.67 The Committee welcomed the fact that career start, which was a programme for finding employment and training for care leavers, both within the Council and with partners, had created more than 20 places in the first year and this was expanding.

5.68 The Committee were of the view that the success of the Career Start programme

should be built upon for care leavers, in order to develop local opportunities for training and employment for local young people.

5.69 Efforts are also being made to prepare young people for employment, higher

education and training. In 2005 70 students from the school sixth forms and 432 17-19 year olds from the college went on to higher education, 83% of the cohort. Through Aim Higher, the Pathfinder and other initiatives there are strong links with higher education providers, especially UCL and City, Middlesex, South Bank and London Met Universities. The College's Sixth Form Centre has a partnership with UCL, the Partnership for Excellence, now in its sixth year, to enhance the opportunities for progression to HE for college students and an alliance with City University, and runs a range of foundation degree courses itself.

5.70 Every pupil has a citizenship programme incorporating enterprise activities.

Schools have a wide range of links with employers and there is positive feedback from students and schools for the work and enterprise related programmes provided by the Education Business Partnership (EBP). All students in secondary and special schools are offered two weeks work experience in year 10 and 11.

5.71 The EBP provides work-related learning programmes in schools and materials on

financial literacy. Programmes include: a week long enterprise roadshow in 2005, involving 450 students from several schools; a 2 day construction trades course in summer 2006 for 130 girls from Highbury Fields; a one day trades course at London Construction Training Centre for year 9 boys at St. Aloysius; a leadership skills course for 240 year 9 girls from Elizabeth Garrett Anderson; a 4 day course at the BBC 21cc digital learning centre for girls from 3 schools. Year 9 and 10 students have access to a Chamber of Commerce funded project 'Find your Voice! Find a Job!' to build communications skills and confidence. There are several specialist projects targeted at specific groups e.g., mentoring for KS4 students by business mentors.

5.72 The Committee having heard the views of a number of witnesses as to the

employability skills of young people were of the view that schools did have a responsibility to ensure that young people leave school adequately prepared for work and that schools should work together to put such schemes in place.

5.73 The Committee were informed that improvements to the offer for vocational

education and students' successes have been made : vocational qualifications achieved in 2004-05 stood at 87% for year 11s. The collaborative 14-19 Vocational Programme provides a range of offsite accredited skills-based courses at Levels 1 and 2 for students in years 10 and 11 to complement schools' own provision.

5.74 Demand has increased each year with 179 participants in 2005-06 and 200 in 2006-

07, from 9 local schools and most recently New Directions. Progression to EET (education, employment or training) by participants in the programme improved from 59% in 2002-03 to 79% in 2004-05. The DfES funded Pathfinder Project has

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focussed on developing the specialised diploma in Health and Social Care. A consortium of 2 schools, the college, universities and local healthcare employers/practitioners has been set up in readiness to deliver the new diploma in 2008. Some 100 14-19 year olds are involved at levels 1, 2 and 3. The Pathfinder is considered a model of good practice by the DfES and it is intended that the model will be applied to other curriculum areas from 2008.

5.75 The Committee were of the view that the Council should continue to focus on

provided targeted support for vulnerable and disengaged young people, in particular to extend and expand the current re-engagement programmes funded through the Local Area Agreement. These are aimed at young people at risk of becoming NEET or already long term NEET, including working with schemes such as Prospex and other voluntary agencies to increase work experience opportunities.

5.76 The Council's Regeneration Service had secured employment for 55 local young

people aged 16-20 in 2005-06 and a further 15 gained qualifications. It is also hoped to take advantage of opportunities in the region afforded by the 2010 Olympics. New apprenticeship opportunities have been set up by the major housing maintenance contractors working for the local ALMO. Between 2003 and 2006 14 young Islington people aged 16-17 completed Access to playwork and youth work courses. An employment worker post has been established to work with local employers to develop further training and employment opportunities, following the success of the specialist post for care leavers.

5.77 A 2005 evaluation showed 80% of Islington young people were happy with the

Information Advice and Guidance service (delivered through Connexions) they received and 95% of users would recommend it to their friends. The Connexions service is part of a partnership, which received an 'excellent' OFSTED rating and also provides personal support and signposting to specialist services, benefits advice and signposting and advocacy for clients to schools, training providers, employers and other agencies. It promotes the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) scheme in schools and supports young people applying, and is piloting the new activity allowance. There are Connexions access points across the borough, recently reviewed to ensure appropriate resources in areas of high NEET numbers. This year Connexions is working with schools to audit and update their careers education and guidance work to further improve this service. LSC funding has been secured to develop the Certificate of Personal Education (COPE) and individual career plan work in schools.

5.78 In April 2007 8.1% of young people 16-18 were described as NEET as compared

with 10.4% in April 2006, 15.6% in April 2005 and 17.1% in April 2004, though further improvement is hoped for. The number of unknowns has reduced by 8% since 2004 through an improved information system and tracking with a dedicated team. 95% of year 11s intended destinations are recorded and those who are undecided or have unrealistic expectations are tracked and supported. The development of the NEET strategy has followed the national model and includes a detailed analysis of NEET data to enable focus on target groups. High risk groups receive targeted support, including Connexions advisers located with specialist teams, for example Youth offending, looked after children and care leavers teams. In year 9 young people at risk of becoming NEET are identified and offered a flexible curriculum to keep them engaged in school. 92 year 11s in 2005 identified as at risk achieved GCSE passes, with 68% of 2004-05 PRU (Pupil Referral Unit)

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students achieving at least one Level 2 qualification and 37% moving on to education, employment or training. A new re-engagement programme is currently working with students missing from school, subject to external evaluation in autumn 2007.

5.79 The Committee also received evidence from Maria King, Head of Human

Resources about the proposed development of a talent management strategy for the Council.

5.80 The approach to talent management in Islington is inclusive with programmes

aimed at recruiting, retaining and developing talent at all levels, not simply for the most senior roles. The priorities for the talent management strategy are taken from the HR strategy and linked directly to achieving the Corporate Plan. They are:

Young people in our workforce and in our community 3PL Leaders : Leadership of People, Place and Profession Information and Process Management Diversity across the workforce Enabling policies - supporting the recruitment, retention and capacity to develop

talent 5.81 Islington has a high proportion of unemployed young people. Many do not have a

successful academic record but are keen to work. Some 30% of these young people are seeking work experience following Entry to Employment training, or a first opportunity in administration, IT, customer services and care careers with the Islington Connexions Service.

5.82 Less than 3% of the Council workforce is under 25 years of age, i.e., graduates with

up to two years experience or school leavers with up to nine years experience. The local and national demographics show that the proportion of the workforce aged 16-25 will rise dramatically in the coming years.

5.83 The proportion of graduates amongst young people is also rising, making

universities and the image of the Council amongst students important for current and future recruitment. The Council participates in the National Graduate programme and has a successful track record of recruiting social work and engineering graduates as required. In some years the Council also attends the recruitment fairs hosted by the universities, but attendance is dependent on services agreeing to fund stands on an ad hoc basis.

5.84 The Talent Management strategy seeks to develop a consistent corporate approach

to recruiting and developing young people from local schools and universities, to double the number of employees under 25 years of age on an ongoing basis. The Talent Plan will include the creation of employment opportunities for local young people as well as a more structured approach to relationships with schools, colleges, universities and graduate recruitment. It is proposed that this will build on the work already underway to engage young people in Islington through existing schemes such as the Health and Social Care Ambassador Scheme; Schools Liaison; Work Placements and Listen Up Projects.

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5.85 Each year in Islington there are approximately 200 16-19 year olds without

employment seeking work experience or employment in careers that exist within the Council. In total in 2006 the Council employed only 10 young people under the age of 20. The Care Leaver programme has supported 40 care leavers into employment in the last two years, but few directly with the Council.

5.86 To support the recruitment of young people into the Council, and engage more fully

with our community as one of the largest employers within the borough, the Talent Plan will include:

Work experience for Education to Employment (E2E) trainees available within each

service Development of a modern apprenticeship programme open to those completing the

E2E training and to other young people in the borough with appropriate qualifications

5.87 This requires each service creating structured learning opportunities for E2E and

modern apprenticeship trainees and allocating supervision for the young people whilst on site.

5.88 It is anticipated that the E2E trainees will receive a weekly training allowance, and that the apprentice pay costs will need to be met by the Council, at least in part. The cost and allowances will be subject to negotiation with the Learning and Skills Council.

5.89 It is also anticipated that once qualified, the trainees could move in to employment

reducing reliance on casual and agency staff, recovering the cost of the programme within 2 years.

5.90 In addition the Committee felt that new intermediate provision which supports the

Entry to Employment Programme (E2E) as both a preparation for E2E and as a bridge into college or work-based learning after E2E should be developed.

5.91 Approximately 14,000 full time students live in Islington. The trend towards

increasing proportions of the future workforce with higher education qualifications, make this a valuable opportunity for the Council to market career opportunities for current and future recruitment of talent.

5.92 The Talent Plan will oversee the development of ongoing relationships to be

established with local colleges and universities (City and Islington College, City University, University of North London and Middlesex University). This requires:

A sponsor for each college/university to be included. The sponsor is

responsible for ongoing relationships with relevant faculties and the careers service at that university Agreed funding for attendance at careers fairs to allow better planning and

promotion of the Council stands, and engagement of a wider group of Council staff to attend the fairs. This funding is not incremental, it is usually provided following negotiation with services on an ad hoc basis for each event, leaving little time for planning and promotion.

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Creation of a website in the jobs and careers section featuring graduate career case studies/interviews that can be linked to the university careers sites.

5.93 The Talent Plan programmes will include an annual rolling programme of planned

graduate recruitment, sponsored by the services and managers recruiting and supported by a programme to encourage retention - to include graduate events from induction to workshops broadening the perspective of Council activity in the community.

5.94 It is likely that this pool of young talent within the organisation will be enthusiastic

towards community engagement projects, and that involvement in projects not directly related to their jobs, but supporting the development of the borough, will contribute to longer term retention.

5.95 The Committee were of the view that this was a positive measure and endorsed the

adoption of the Talent Management strategy.

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6. CONCLUSION 6.1 The scrutiny again has highlighted the need for the Council and it’s partners to look

at measures to increase the employability of young people in the borough.

6.2 The disaffection of young people is very often due to the sense of worthlessness that they feel at not being employed, with low educational achievement and not feeling ready for the world of work.

6.3 Whilst there have been many worthwhile measures put in place over the last few

years to assist young people in this the Committee are of the view that much more needed to be done to support young people, especially in critical times where they were seeking qualifications, work experience, careers advice and finally entering the world of work.

6.4 The impression that is sometimes given of young people wanting inflated salaries

and needing to have their expectations managed, however this was not borne out by our interviews with young people who we were surprised to learn had very moderate expectations of what they wanted to earn.

6.5 The Committee felt that the ISP can have a crucial role in bringing together and

engaging partners in co- ordinating work to improve employment opportunities in the borough for young people and work particularly with the Council to expand the current schemes in place and to put in place further schemes.

6.6 The Committee recognise that the employment of young people is a difficult

problem not only locally but nationally and it is hoped that the measures that the Committee has proposed will make improvements.

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APPENDICES TO THE REPORT SCRUTINY INITIATION DOCUMENT - APPENDIX A LIST OF WITNESSES AND VISITS - APPENDIX B

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LIST OF WITNESSES AND VISITS STEVE MASON - ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF ENVIRONMENT AND REGENERATION (REGENERATION) MICK HICKEY - JOB CENTRE PLUS JANINE BRADY - HEAD OF YOUNG PEOPLES SERVICES SALLY GRAN - SERVICE MANAGER, YOUTH OFFENDING TEAM MATT CALVERT - PROSPEX KHALID OMAR - MUSLIM WELFARE CENTRE ANDY YIANNAKOU - ONE STEP AHEAD CITY YMCA - YOUNG PEOPLE DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE MARIA KING - HEAD OF HUMAN RESOURCES FRANCES CARTER- ASSISTANT DIRECTOR (CHILDRENS SERVICES)

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