Latest official statistics have shown the proportion of young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) in the UK has continued its downward trend.

An Office for National Statistics (ONS) report published today said that there were 922,000 16 to 24-year-old Neets between April and June this year — a decrease of 21,000 from January to March 2015 and down 44,000 from a year earlier.

The figures meant 12.7 per cent of the total number of 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK (7,258,000) were Neet, which the ONS said was the lowest figure during any quarter-period over the last five years.

The proportion of Neets among 16 to 24-year-olds for April to June was 0.3 per cent down on the previous quarterly figures for January to March, and 0.5 per cent lower than the figure for the same three monthly period last year.

The report added: “Just under half (47 per cent) of all young people in the UK who were Neet were looking for work and available for work and therefore classified as unemployed.

“The remainder were either not looking for work and/or not available for work and therefore classified as economically inactive.”

The government, which had previously refused to acknowledge the ONS UK figures, has also put out its own report today using different figures based on its own rules and covering just England.

It showed that the proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds who were Neet had fallen by 0.4 percentage points to 13.1 per cent, down 23,000 compared to the same period last year, and the lowest level since 2004.

The figures for 16 to 18-year-old Neets had fallen by 0.6 percentage points to 7.5 per cent, representing a fall of 11,000, which is the lowest level since 2000, and 19 to 24-year-olds Neets had fallen by 0.3 percentage points to 15.7 per cent, a reduction of 12,000 on last year.

Skills Minister Nick Boles said: “Today we have yet more evidence this government is delivering on its commitment to get all young people either learning or into work.”

“While the proportion of young people NEET is at its lowest for this time of the year since 2004, we will not stop there.

“Our focus remains firmly on equipping all young people with the skills they need — not least through our pledge to deliver 3 million new apprenticeships in this Parliament.”

A charity has called for employers that train young care leavers to receive a larger financial return on planned apprenticeship levy payments.

Barnardo’s issued a plea to the government today for it to reserve 20,000 apprenticeships in England for 16 to 18-year-olds from the care system.

After learning of the proposal, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) raised concern about placing “mandatory requirements” on apprenticeship employers.

When asked by FE Week how it would address concern that employers could be put off apprenticeships if they are told who to hire, a Barnado’s spokesperson proposed handing firms that take on care leavers a larger return from future levy payments.

He said: “Under the current government proposals [announced by Chancellor George Osborne on July 8], employers will be taxed [through the levy] according to the number of apprenticeships they can take, then reimbursed to cover the costs of taking on an apprentice.

“As care leavers will need additional support to successfully complete the apprenticeships [which would be costly to employers] the government could increase the levy subsidy on offer.

“That means that employers who take on a care leaver apprentice would get a higher return.

“Just as the current proposals have minimal financial impact on the business, which is taxed more but reimbursed, or the government, which funds the apprenticeship but receives taxation, reserving apprenticeship placements for care leavers in this way would have little financial impact, despite the more support they may need.”

An AELP spokesperson said that it would “look carefully” at Barnado’s proposals and had “always been supportive of apprenticeships being socially inclusive”.

But he added: “An apprenticeship should involve a willing employer, a committed learner and a quality training provider, so we have concerns about any mandatory requirements for employers.

“On the issue of entry requirements for apprenticeships which Bernardo’s raises, this is precisely a major reason why we want to see the traineeship programme grow significantly over the next five years [to prepare more young people for apprenticeships].”

Meanwhile, David Corke (pictured right), director of education and skills policy for the Association of Colleges, said: “Barnardo’s is absolutely right to highlight the need for young people leaving care to be given additional support to find a good job.

“Colleges would be ready and able to provide the training as part of this proposal.

“However, the detail would need to be worked on because colleges often find employers unwilling to employ young apprentices because they are deemed not ready for the workplace immediately after leaving school and there would also need to be support for employers to ensure the job role is maintained following the apprenticeship.”

The Barnado’s spokesperson said that care leavers often struggle more than children from stable homes to secure good enough GCSE grades to qualify for apprenticeships.

Only 37 per cent of care leavers pass five GCSEs A*-C, he added, and “those results put the entry criteria for some apprenticeships out of reach”.

Mr Osborne (pictured left) announced plans for a levy on large businesses, to help fund apprenticeship growth up to the government’s target for 3m starts by 2020, during his July budget speech.

It came after Professor Lady Alison Wolf called for such a levy, but on all employers, in a report released by the Social Market Foundation.

The Treasury explained after Mr Osborne’s speech that revenue from the levy would help fund all post-16 apprenticeships in England and “provide funding that each employer can use to meet their individual needs”.

When asked for its views on the Barnado’s proposals, a Department for Education spokesperson said: “We are improving the lives of care leavers and helping them make a successful transition to adulthood.

“A good apprenticeship can help support this, and that is why we’re fully funding apprenticeships’ training for eligible care leavers aged 19-23.

“We have also changed the law so young people can live with their foster family after they turn 18, and given every child who leaves care a personal adviser. We are also investing over £100m through the Innovation Programme to support vulnerable children.”

The Confederation of British Industry, which is opposed to the apprenticeship levy plan, declined to comment on the proposals by Barnado’s.

The Federation of Small Businesses also declined to comment.

The government’s new Earn or Learn Taskforce will oversee plans to force young benefits claimants onto apprenticeships or traineeships if they do not find a job or acceptable unpaid work.

The “troubleshooter” taskforce was launched earlier this summer to track government progress on its target for 3m apprenticeship starts by next parliament, as reported by FE Week on June 3.

The Cabinet Office announced today that the taskforce, made up of eight MPs including Education Secretary Nicky Morgan (pictured right), Skills Minister Nick Boles (pictured below left)) and his predecessor Matthew Hancock (pictured above), who is the Cabinet Office Minister and also chairs the group, will implement plans to force unemployed 18 to 21-year-olds to start an apprenticeship, traineeship, or a paid or unpaid job.

The young claimants, she added, will “lose benefits” if they do not comply from April 2017.

But David Corke, director of education and skills policy at the Association of Colleges, cast doubt on whether this would work in practice, insisting that “alternative technical and professional qualifications [in addition to apprenticeships and traineeships] must [also] be available to help these young people back into work or training”.

Mr Corke (pictured right) was also lukewarm in his backing for another measure that the Cabinet Office said today would be implemented by Mr
Hancock’s taskforce — which will involve a new “boot camp” to get claimant’s work-ready within six months.

The Cabinet Office spokesperson said that this will involve 18 to 21-year-olds starting on an intensive activity programme “within the first three weeks of claiming out-of-work benefit”.

“The intensive curriculum includes practicing job applications and interview techniques as well as extensive job search, and is expected to take 71 hours over the first three weeks of the claim,” she added.

“A dedicated work coach will work with jobseekers and continuously review what was achieved during the initial three week work course.”

But Mr Corke said: “A ‘boot camp’ approach may not necessarily be the best way to encourage young people back into education or training which could lead them to a job.

“Colleges already work closely with Jobcentre Plus to ensure that education and training is available for young people who need or want it.”

An Association of Employment and Learning Providers spokesperson said: “We have [already] been pressing [the government] for training providers to be involved earlier in the process to assess [Jobcentre Plus] clients’ barriers to the jobs market and what support they may need.”

Mr Hancock said: “By working across government to make sure that every young person is in work or training, by opening up 3m more apprenticeships, expanding traineeships, and making sure that a life on benefits is simply not an option, we want to end rolling welfare dependency for good, so welfare dependency is no longer passed down the generations.”

He added: “We are absolutely committed to ending long-term youth unemployment and building a country for workers, where nobody is defined by birth and everyone can achieve their potential.”

Six FE colleges are preparing to open 10 new Careers Colleges over the next two academic years, with the potential another 15 to open by 2019.

Former Conservative Education Secretary Lord Baker first announced plans in October 2013 to create a series of Careers Colleges, focussing on training from 14 years old with each specialising in a different sector and working directly with employers, at existing FE colleges.

The Careers College’s Trust, which Lord Baker set up to help oversee their establishment, said today that five of them will open next month.

Barking and Dagenham College’s Careers College, for example, will specialise in digital and creative industries, while South Tyneside College’s will offer advanced manufacturing, engineering and computer science, and Yeovil College’s will cover health and care.

Meanwhile, Harrow College will open two Career Colleges from the start of 2015/16 — one specialising in creative and digital industries, and the other in professional and business services.

The Trust added that Birmingham Metropolitan College will open a Careers College in professional services and one in creative and digital industries in September 2016.

Lincoln College will also launch three separate Careers Colleges, specialising in construction, health care and engineering in 2016/17.

The 10 new Career Colleges will join two that opened last September at London’s Bromley College and Liverpool’s Hugh Baird College, which specialise in catering and hospitality respectively.

Yeovil College principal John Evans (pictured above) told FE Week: “We chose to go down the Careers College route, rather than simply direct recruitment because of the focus on employer involvement and we have strong relationships with many of the major employers in the area.

“Yeovil District Hospital told us about the shortage of healthcare professionals they were experiencing, which was forcing them to recruit from Spain and Portugal — so there’s clearly a need for specialist training like this.”

The college’s relationship with the hospital is also close in a more literal sense, he explained, as the two are just across the road from each other.

“We have been building to this for a long time as we often have hospital staff coming in and out to give demonstrations,” he said.

“The long term plan is to build a 14-to-19 college site, complete with a mock ward and operating theatre so healthcare professionals so they can visit, teach a lesson and then go back to their normal work.”

Mr Evans added that the college was not initially planning to recruit 14-year-olds — so provision will start at 16 for now and expand “gradually” over the next couple of years.

The announcement about the new Careers Colleges came as new research commissioned by the Trust showed more than 80 per cent of 1,001 secondary age students questioned thought that the education system should be more career-focused.

Lord Baker, founder and trustee of the Trust, said Career Colleges were designed to help address this issue and he was “delighted” that the network was expanding.

“If young people themselves are not feeling prepared for work, employers will continue to struggle with the recruitment issues that have become such a challenge for UK industry,” he said.

“Put simply, this is what young people want and what businesses need.”

A spokesperson for the EFA, which funds Careers Colleges, said: “Equipping young people with the knowledge and skills most valued by employers is central to our plan for education.”

Three golds were crowned with an illustrious first for TeamUK as beauty therapist Rianne Chester was handed the award for best overall WorldSkills competitor in a glorious night in Brazil.

The Albert Vidal award went jointly to the Warrington Collegiate learner (pictured above) — the first time the UK has ever won the prize — while a further four silver and two bronze medals went to her team-mates.

The gold achieved by the 21-year-old, who runs Beauty By Rianne, was equalled by TeamUK plumbing and heating competitor Gary Doyle, from Northern Ireland’s Southern Regional College and Kieran Trainor Plumbing and Heating and also 21.

And the skills of 21-year-old Chichester College learner Edward Harringman, who works for Harringman Cabinet Making, meant the gold achieved by fellow cabinet maker George Callow, who also went to Chichester College, two years ago in WorldSkills Leipzig was retained.

Silvers went to the UK landscape gardening team of 21-year-olds Matthew Beesley, from Cheshire’s Reasheath College and Beesley Landscapes, and Jonathan Gill, from Northern Ireland’s College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise and Jonathan Gill Landscapes.

The third silver was claimed by UK’s 24-year-old aircraft maintenance competitor Shayne Hadland, who trains with RAF Cosford and works at RAF Benson. He also walked off with the best in nation award, while the fourth silver went to 21-year-old Christopher Bailie, from South Eastern Regional College and BL Refrigeration and AC Limited, in refrigeration and air conditioning.

The UK bronze medals were won by 20-year-old architectural stonemason Sam Turner, from York College and The Dean and Chapter of York Minster, and 22-year-old car painter Rebecca Wilson, from Northern Ireland’s Riverpark Training and CM Accident Repair Centre.

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Skills Minister Nick Boles offered his congratulations to the team, whose performance at Sao Paulo across four days of intense competition could get even better with medallions of excellence — awarded when competitors miss out on the top three spots, but hit scores of internationally-recognised standards — yet to be given out.

The haul of nine podium place medals, handed out at the Ibirapuera Gymnasium, was two up on WorldSkills Leipzig two years ago, when Team UK claimed two golds, one silver and three bronze, along with 17 medallions of excellence.

Skills Minister Boles said: “Congratulations to Team UK on its impressive medals tally and achievement at WorldSkills São Paulo.

“Their hard work shows how far apprenticeships and professional and technical training can take young people, and the skills they are learning will help drive them towards an exciting and rewarding career.”

The evening included traditional Brazilian music and dancers, plus a retrospective video looking back at the entire competition, and there was also a video about Abu Dhabi, the host city for the 44th WorldSkills Competition in 2017.

The final award of the evening was the Albert Vidal prize, which Rianne shared with automobile technicians Jeong Woo Seo, from Korea, and Luis Carlos Sanchez Machado, from Brazil.

Carole Stott, chair of Find a Future, which manages the UK’s entry into the WorldSkills competition, said: “WorldSkills São Paulo gave Team UK the opportunity to showcase the UK’s vocational and FE system on a global stage.

“The hard work they have all put in over the last two years to prepare for the competition, alongside their committed training managers has really paid off and we are thrilled with the results they have achieved.

“We urge the nation to join us celebrating the success of Team UK and give them a champions’ welcome on their return.”

Some ingenious thinking about the difference between British and Brazilian plaster could lead TeamUK competitor Robert Johnson to gold.

The Redcar & Cleveland College 22-year-old had 80 bags of the stuff shipped to the UK from South America to make sure there were no nasty plaster-based surprises.

WorldSkillsUK stalwart Peter Moore, Robert’s training manager, who works for Construction Skills Academy, was behind the brainwave and it may just have put TeamUK on a footing with plastering and drywall systems long-term achievers Germany.

Robert, who works for dad Peter’s Classic Plaster Moulds firm, told FE Week last night at the end of day two of competition: “The first two days of competition have been tough. There have been a few changes made but nothing that has affected my game.

“Tomorrow we start with the Brazilian plaster, which I’ve been practicing with at home — we got a ton shipped over for me two months ago to practice with. We had about 80 bags and I got through half of it.

“In Brazil the plaster is very different with a longer set time, because using our plaster in this heat it would just dry straight away. It’s different to use and so I’ve had to learn a totally different technique to use it.

“On familiarisation day I didn’t try it out because I didn’t want to give any techniques away because I know how to use it — others don’t.

“But the German competitor was the only other one who didn’t try it either and they win it every year, so they’ve done the same I think. I’ve seen his work and, again, they’re good.”

He added: “No one wins with 100 per cent at my skill, but I’d put my score so far at 98 per cent — I lost out on just two measurements, which is a common fault. But that’s a personal best so I can’t complain.”

There was also a positive view on TeamUK progress over at architectural stonemasonry, where 20-year-old Sam Turner was giving credit to his training manager, Kevin Calpin (pictured top), from Calpin Associates.

“I’m really happy with where I am today [end of day two]. My timing is really good. Yesterday was just as good. Everything’s been spot on with my training and where I need to be,” said Sam, from York College and who works at The Dean and Chapter of York Minster.

“There are three modules to the task — there are templates that are cut out of aluminium sheet, the second module is a letter and carving module then third is a masonry module which is similar to a column.

“The masonry is the hardest — it’s got a lot of marks in it and a lot of work. I started it yesterday and it’s got to be finished by 2pm on Saturday. I saw the plans before then but there was a 30 per cent change — but they made it easier if anything.

“My training manager’s pushed me, but it’s what I’ve needed to get me here.”