Agenda item

The Chairman invited Bushra Jamil, Adviser, to introduce the update report.

Bushra introduced the report which provided an update on the development of a youth participation and employment and skills policy which related to young people.

Members made the following comments:

• As a result of budget cuts to local authorities and the loss of money experienced from COVID-19, we need to continue to ensure that young people are supported to get on the career ladder and tackle youth unemployment.

• With regards to apprenticeships, only 8 per cent London businesses employ apprentices. The retention scheme is masking a whole wave of youth unemployment to come and we really need to think about what economic recovery looks like.

• This is a complicated part of our work and there must be some evidence which relates to which type of schemes work best in terms of reducing youth unemployment.

• Many of our NEET young people lack foundation-level skills and some provision needs to be in place before they are ready to move onto more technical skills, so there needs to be a mixed provision in terms of how we address the needs of NEET young people.

• In relation to paragraphs 20 and 21 in the report regarding post-16 Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), whilst all local authorities are faced with pressures and overspends on budgets, there is an opportunity here to deliver better outcomes by having provision much closer to where vulnerable young people live, but to deliver it at much better value to the taxpayer. We mustn’t lose sight of the potential to do things more efficiently.

• With regards to post-16 SEND provision and apprenticeships, as local authorities, we don’t have the powers or funding available to support these complex areas.

• Partnership working is really important with regards to T Levels. There are colleges in the Further Education (FE) sector who are undertaking strong, innovative work and engaging with employers on delivering T Levels, so we need to pick up best practice work closely with the sector.

• With regards to the FE reform white paper, are we engaging with government?

Bushra responded to comments made by members:

• In terms of Kickstart opportunities, we’re continuing to work closely with our workforce development team and want to establish career paths for leavers. This is an area that we will be developing and looking at the other available opportunities for these young people. However, this can be challenging within the public sector as there are shrinking workforce-related issues.

• With regards to the FE reform white paper, we are in the process of developing a response to government. It was launched last week so the LGA is working on a position paper and we hope to engage with the DfE in relation to this.

Decision:

Members noted the report and agreed to provide comments/steer in relation to plans for progressing the policy.

Action/s:

Officers to provide an update on the LGA’s response to the FE reforms white paper at the next City Regions Lead Members meeting.