Raising of the Participation Age (RPA) and Post 16 Provision in Lambeth
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b Children and Young People’s Service Scrutiny Sub-Committee 14 March 2013 Raising of the Participation Age (RPA) and Post 16 Provision in Lambeth All Wards Joint Report authorised by : Executive Director of Children and Young People’s Service: Debbie Jones and Executive Director of Housing, Regeneration and Environment: Sue Foster Executive summary o This national context for this paper is the new requirement for young people to remain in learning until 17 (by 2013) and 18 (by 2015). o The describes the nature of Lambeth’s 16 – 19 cohort, as well as the services in place, and under development aimed at meeting the needs of young people in this age group. o Lambeth is home to more unemployed people than any other London Borough. With over 30,000 jobs potentially being created in the borough in the next 15 years, it is crucial that the Council develops the infrastructure for residents to access, not only these, but also opportunities in the rest of London. Young people need to be ready for these new opportunities in an evolving London economy. This will require a strong pre-employment offer from school onwards based on forecast growth sectors to enable them to access local learning, training and vocational opportunities. o Ensuring that there is effective support and provision to enable young people to progress to appropriate learning and vocational destinations is a whole council responsibility. o For this reason, this report has been prepared collaboratively by officers from CYPS and HRE so that the nature and potential needs of young people remaining in learning can be considered in the context of the major inward investment and growth in jobs that will happen over the next 15 years and beyond. o The challenge now is to use this timely opportunity to drive up attainment, raise aspirations and develop a generation of young people that are ready for the workplace. o Background data about young people in Lambeth aged 16 and older is included along with information about the configuration and scale of local education provision, apprenticeships and other destinations for this group. Summary of financial implications Funding responsibility for post-16 provision rests with the Education Funding Agency (EFA) for both the core pupil related funding and the capital funding required to support increase in places. Funding responsibility for all high needs pupils (aged up to 25), both pre and post 16 rests with local authorities and is sourced from the Dedicated Schools Grant. A Growth Cabinet Advisory Panel is being established to consider the complex cross-cutting issues associated with the growth agenda and to allocate investment to support infrastructure development. Recommendations That CYPS Scrutiny Sub-Committee notes: (1) the information regarding the Raising of the Participation Age including • issues regarding the nature of the 16 – 19 cohort in Lambeth, • the provision for young people wishing to access learning in Lambeth, • the targeted support services available to vulnerable young people and • the context of the increasing opportunities for training and work in Lambeth through the increased inward investment in the borough. and endorses: (2) the setting up of the programme of actions described in the Lambeth RPA strategy which are aimed at ensuring that there is the best possible provision for young people continuing to learn. (3) the establishment of the cross departmental RPA Steering group and the RPA Delivery Team to ensure that RPA benefits Lambeth’s young residents with the full engagement of young people, delivery partners and other interested parties including the voluntary and business sectors. 2 Consultation Name of Department or Organisation Date sent Date Comments consultee response appear in report received para: Internal Debbie Jones Executive Director of Children and 20/27.2.13 20/27.2.13 Throughout Young People’s Service CYPS DLT 20/27.2.13 20/27.2.13 Throughout Sue Foster Executive Director of Housing, 20/27.2.13 20/27.2.13 Throughout Regeneration and Environment Ongoing Ongoing Throughout Cathy Twist Assistant Director CYPS and 25.1.13 advice /14.2.13 Frances Farragher Interim Adviser, Planning 5.2.13 Ongoing Section 7 Regeneration and Enterprise Alison Young Divisional Director Planning, 5.2.13 Regeneration and Enterprise E Hastings Legal Services 28.02.13 28.2.13 Approved J Davy Governance and Democracy 18.2.13 22.2.13 Advice re contacts provided N Jethwa Department Finance Officer 14.2.13 18.2.13 Finance comments section 2 Frank Higgins Corporate Finance 25.02.13 26.2.13 See Finance comments Rachel Heywood Cabinet Member for Children and 19.2.13 26.2.13 Throughout Families Jackie Meldrum Cabinet Member for Business and 19.2.13 scrutiny Employment External Mark Silverman Principal Lambeth College 4.1.13 15.1.13 4.4 Headteachers All secondary schools 4.1.13 Verbal advice received Report history Date report drafted: Report deadline: Date report sent: Report no.: 14.02.13 01.03.13 28.02.13 275/12-13 Report author and contact for queries: Farquhar McKay 14 – 19 Coordinator; Geraldine Abrahams, Head of Multiagency Team, Targeted Services; Frances Farragher, Employment and Enterprise 020 7926 9881 [email protected] Background documents o Department for Education Guidelines: Raising of the Participation Age http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/youngpeople/participation/rpa o Department for Education advice on guidance: http://www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/statutory Appendices N.A. 3 Raising of the Participation Age (RPA) and Post 16 Provision in Lambeth 1. Context 1.1 Raising of the Participation Age (RPA) means that young people are expected to remain in learning until the age of 17 (by 2013) and 18 (by 2015). These changes mean that this year’s (2012 -13) Year 10 and Year 11 pupils will remain in learning until the end of the year in which they are 17 (2013 and 2014 respectively); and this year’s Year 9 pupils (and under) will remain in learning until their 18th birthday (2015 onwards). 1.2 Lambeth’s plans for addressing the needs of young people aged 16 – 19 are framed within the context of RPA. This paper explains the obligations of RPA, and how Lambeth Council’s different services including CYPS and HRE , and its partners, including schools, colleges, Job Centre Plus and the Education Funding Agency, are working together to ensure that there is adequate provision for all of its residents in this age group, including vulnerable young people. 1.3 The paper also provides a full description of the nature and size of the RPA cohort and the complexities that arise in Lambeth through the very high mobility of its population, particularly those in this age group. It also provides information about the current participation rates of young people including o NEET and Not Known o the range and nature of learning providers in the borough and their curriculum offer o the development of apprenticeships and other work based opportunities in the context of the anticipated inward investment into the Lambeth. 1.4 This is a complex and rapidly changing area, and in order to address these issues. Lambeth officers, working with partner organisations including all local providers, the Education Funding Agency, Voluntary Sector providers, have developed the Lambeth RPA strategy which is included in this document as Section 12. 2. Proposals and Reasons 2.1 RPA is being introduced at the same time as Lambeth Council is working closely with major inward investment organisations and key partners e.g. colleges and Job Centre Plus to develop the infrastructure to ensure that young people benefit from the job opportunities arising from the forthcoming period of unprecedented growth. The last Lambeth Business Survey (2011) revealed that businesses would prefer to recruit locally, but were unable to attract candidates with the right skills to enable them to do this. To improve skills and co-ordinate the myriad of employment programmes in the borough the council is working with partners to develop Lambeth Working, a brokerage approach to ensure that local people benefit from opportunities as they arise that are secured through the planning process. So far a small number of apprenticeships have been secured on the Riverlight development, one of the first Nine Elms Vauxhall projects. This 4 approach was successfully adopted by the Olympic host boroughs and LB Newham to secure local employment in Westfield, Stratford. 2.2 It is important to emphasise that RPA does not require young people to remain in school. There is a range of options open to them, including school or college based learning, apprenticeships or jobs with training, and this paper provides an overview of the configuration of learning pathways in Lambeth. 2.3 The report describes the services in place and under development aimed at meeting the needs of young people in this age group. These services are offered by education providers including schools and colleges, apprenticeship providers including Lambeth Council, which has a particular responsibility for coordinating provision with employers and learning providers including the college and private sector partners. 2.4 The priorities of Lambeth Council and Lambeth First both emphasise the need to ensure that local people are helped to acquire the skills and attitudes necessary to benefit from the employment and leisure opportunities being developed in the borough. There is a particular driver for Lambeth Council to ensure that its residents benefit from the opportunities springing from inward investment programmes. These will provide additional access to local learning, training and vocational opportunities. 2.5 This report has been prepared by officers from both CYPS and HRE so that the nature and potential needs of young people remaining in learning can be considered in the context of the major capital developments that are taking place in the borough.