Annual Participation Measure 2023-24
Argyll and Bute Council · 12 December 2024
Back to Community Services Committee — 12 December 2024 and its agenda
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE EDUCATION 12 DECEMBER 2024 ANNUAL PARTICIPATION MEASURE 2023-24 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 The purpose of this report is to provide members with information on the most recent Annual Participation Measure published by Skills Development Scotland (SDS) in August 2024, covering the period April 2023 – March 2024. 1.2 The Annual Participation Measure (APM) reports nationally on the economic and employment activity of the 16-19 year old cohort in Argyll and Bute, including those at school. The measure is used to inform policy, planning and service delivery and to determine the impact of the Opportunities for All commitment. 1.3 The APM was incorporated into the Scottish Government’s National performance Framework from August 2017 as the data source for the indicator, “increase the proportion of young people in learning, training or work”, replacing the School Leaver Destination Reports. 1.4 The previous measure, School Leaver Destination Reports, collected data on young people in the senior phase of school (S4-S6) who had left school during the school year and essentially offered a snapshot at the time of reporting (October/February). The APM takes account of the status of all 16–19-year-olds in Scotland over a full calendar year (1st April – 31st March) and assigns to each young person the status which applied to them for the greatest part of the year in question.
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE EDUCATION 12 DECEMBER 2024 ANNUAL PARTICIPATION MEASURE 2023-24 2.0 INTRODUCTION 2.1 The Annual Participation Measure (APM) is published in August each year and is used to inform policy, planning and service delivery, and also to assess progress in the delivery of the Scottish Government’s commitment to offer a place in learning or training to every 16 to 19 year-old in Scotland not already in employment, education or training. 2.2 The 2024 APM marks the 10th annual release of statistics detailing the participation of 16–19-year-olds at a national and local authority level. The report takes account of the status for 16–19-year-olds from 1st April 2023 to 31st March 2024. 2.3 The statistics are produced using data collected by Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and a range of partners, which is shared through the 16+ Data Hub. 2.4 The report is based on a cohort of 222,125 young people in Scotland aged between 16 and 19, of whom 3,187 are from Argyll and Bute. 2.5 In August 2023, the Annual Participation Measure was informed for the first time by data supplied from His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). However, it was agreed by SDS and the Scottish Government that the contribution of data from HMRC would be paused for 2024. To ensure comparability across publications SDS have revised the 2023 data set by removing updates resulting from HMRC data. This revision allows for comparisons between different years to be made on a like-for-like basis, as the datasets were prepared using the same methodology. The resultant effect of such an adjustment was to reduce the 2023 Participation Measure for almost all local authorities. Accordingly, Argyll and Bute’s Participation figure for 2023 changed from 95.6% to 94.4%.
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3.0 RECOMMENDATIONS It is recommended that the Community Services Committee: 3.1 Considers the information in relation to the 2023-2024 Annual Participation Measure; 3.2 Note the consistently strong performance of Argyll and Bute as a council area in facilitating the participation of 16-19 year-olds. 3.3 Note the change in statistical detail brought about by the revision of 2023 Participation figures to exclude data provided by His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. 4.0 DETAIL 4.1 The APM is compiled from data collected from the 16+ Data Hub, a multi- partner secure data sharing gateway managed by Skills Development Scotland (SDS). Data input is provided from Local Authorities, Colleges, the Department of Work and Pensions, the Students Awards Agency Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council. 4.2 The participation status of each young person is identified by combining the number of days spent in each status (participating, not-participating or unknown) between 1st April 2023 and 31st March 2024. Their overall headline classification is then defined as the heading under which they have spent the most days over that year. 4.3 The classifications are defined as: Participating – school pupil, higher education, further education, employment, modern apprenticeships, training and voluntary work. Not Participating – unemployed and seeking employment or training, unemployed and not seeking employment or training. Unconfirmed Status – information on individual not available for reporting. Some of these young people may be in employment but not in contact with partner agencies. 4.4 The 2024 APM headline figures confirm that 94.3% of 16–19-year-olds in Argyll and Bute (3,005 young people) were participating in education, training or employment, which represents an decrease of 0.1% on 2023’s measure, and is 1.6% above the national participation figure of 92.7%. Of Scotland’s 32 local authorities, Argyll and Bute is placed ninth for participation levels. 2023-24 is the seventh year in succession in which Argyll and Bute have ranked in the top ten local authorities for participation.
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3.2% of 16-19 year-olds in Argyll and Bute (101 young people) were not participating, which is an increase of 0.1% on 2023’s measure, and 0.5% below the national figure for non-participation of 3.7%. 2.5% of 16-19 year-olds in Argyll and Bute (79 young people) have an unconfirmed status, which is an increase of 0.1% on 2022, and 1.1% below the national figure for Unconfirmed status of 3.6%. The table below summarises participation in Argyll and Bute over time: 4.5 The 2024 APM figures for Argyll and Bute exceed the Scottish average in all three classifications (noting that for non-participating and unconfirmed status, the lower percentage is desirable). Nationally, between 2022-23 and 2023-24, the Participation rate rose in 11 of the 32 local authorities by an average of 0.65% and fell in 19 authorities by an average of 0.47%. Two authorities recorded the same figure for both periods. The decrease of 0.1% in those participating in Argyll and Bute is significantly less than the average for authorities recording a decrease 4.6 Participation – Employment and Education • In 2023-24 there was a decrease in the number of young people in employment in Argyll and Bute from 28.8% in 2022-23 to 28.2% in 2023-24. Nationally, 19.6% of young people are in employment, which is unchanged from 2022-23. The figure for young people in employment in Argyll and Bute is 8.6% above the national average. • Between 2022-23 and 2023-24, the number of 16-19 year-olds in Argyll and Bute in education has increased from 64.3% to 64.8%. The national figure for 16-19 year olds in education is 71.2%, a fall of 0.3% from 2022-23. • It can be seen from the above data that the number of 16-19 year-olds in Argyll and Bute in employment is significantly higher than the national figure, and 2016-2017 Argyll and Bute 2017-2018 Argyll and Bute 2018-2019 Argyll and Bute 2019-2020 Argyll and Bute 2020-2021 Argyll and Bute 2021-2022 Argyll and Bute 2022-2023 Argyll and Bute 2023-2024 Argyll and Bute 2023-2024 Scotland Participating 93% 94.2% 94.8% 94.1% 93.5% 93.9% 94.4% 94.3% 92.7% Not Participating 2.8% 2.7% 2.2% 2.4% 3.2% 3.8% 3.1% 3.2% 3.7% Unconfirmed 4.2% 3.1% 3.0% 3.5% 3.3% 2.3% 2.4% 2.5% 3.6%
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that there are correspondingly fewer 16-19 year-olds in Argyll and Bute in education – specifically further and higher education – than nationally. 4.7 Equality Characteristics: Gender • In Argyll and Bute in 2023-24, females (94.1%) were slightly less likely to participate than males (94.5%). This constitutes a change from 2022-23 when female participation was 0.7% higher than that of males. • In Argyll and Bute, 58.6% of 16-19 year-old males were in education (an increase of 0.8% on 2022-23 and 7.7% below the national figure), compared with 71.8% of females (a decrease of 0.3% on 2022-23 and 4.9% below the national figure) • 34.4% of Argyll and Bute 16-19 year-old males are in employment (a 2% decrease on 2022-23 and 10.6% above the national figure), compared with 21.4% of equivalent females (a reduction of 0.2% on 2022-23 and 6.3% above the national figure). • The above figures show the continuing trend in Argyll and Bute among 16-19 year-olds for a significantly higher number of females than males to remain in education, while substantially more 16-19 year-old males than females are in employment. Figures for both genders in education are below the national level, males particularly so, while figures for both genders in employment are well above the national average, again, more so for males. 4.8 Equality Characteristics – Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) • In Argyll and Bute, participation rates for young people from the most deprived backgrounds are lower than those of less deprived young people. 91.5% of 16-19 year-olds in the lowest SIMD group were participating – a 2.9% increase on the figure for the same SIMD quintile in 2022-23. 97.1% of 16–19-year- olds in the highest SIMD quintile – the least deprived – were participating, a decrease of 0.7% on 2022-23. The participation gap between SIMD quintile 1 (most deprived) and SIMD quintile 5 (least deprived) is 5.6% • The addressing of the poverty-related gap in participation levels is one of Argyll and Bute Council’s “stretch aims”, in the context of the Scottish Government’s Scottish Attainment Challenge and National Improvement Framework, and planning and intervention around reducing this gap are ongoing. 4.9 Equality Characteristics – Disability • In Argyll and Bute, the Participation figure for those identified as disabled is 90.7%, compared to 94.9% for those not identified as disabled.
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4.10 Equality Characteristics – Ethnicity • In Argyll and Bute, participation for 16-19 year olds identifying as white was 94.4%. For all other ethnic groups, the participation level was 92.9%. The participation rate for those of unknown ethnicity or who did not disclose their ethnicity was 88.9%. 4.11 Link to Skills Development Scotland Annual Participation Measure 2023-2024: https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/publications- statistics/statistics/annual-participation-measure 5.0 CONCLUSION 5.1 The Annual Participation Measure provides data on the economic and employment activity of 16 to 19 year-olds and enables local authorities to measure progress against the National Improvement Framework priority “Improvement in skills and sustained, positive school-leaver destinations for all young people.” 5.2 There was a 0.1% decrease in the percentage of young people from Argyll and Bute participating in education, training or employment in 2023-24 (94.3%). Participation rates in Argyll and Bute are above the national average, and the measures for young people not participating (3.2%) and classified as unconfirmed (2.5%) are below the national averages. Argyll and Bute Council ranks ninth of Scotland’s 32 local authorities for participation. 5.3 Education, Developing the Young Workforce (DYW), Skills Development Scotland (SDS), Community Learning and Development, local colleges, the Third Sector and other partners are working coherently to ensure participation rates in Argyll and Bute increase, and that all young people move into their chosen, sustained positive destination post-school. 5.4 Young people in schools who are at risk of entering a negative, non- participating destination are being positively targeted for supportive intervention, and young people are tracked having left school in order that interventions can be put in place to address any failure to sustain positive, participating destinations. Through such practice, Education, SDS, DYW and their partners seek to continue to increase the number of young people in Argyll and Bute participating productively and meaningfully in society. 5.5 The robust, current information provided by the Annual Participation Measure and the SDS Data Hub will continue to be used to identify potential issues and inform work with partner agencies. This will enable all agencies to be proactive in providing the necessary targeted and tailored intervention to support young people in achieving and sustaining their chosen area of participation in society.
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6.0 IMPLICATIONS 6.1 Policy - This report links directly to Priority 4.2 in the Education Strategic Plan 2024/25 - We will further enhance our partnership with Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) to ensure all young people have the opportunity and successfully develop the skills for life and work required to attain sustained, positive destinations post-school. 6.2 Financial – None. 6.3 Legal – None. 6.4 HR – None 6.5 Fairer Scotland Duty: 6.5.1 Equalities - The Opportunities for All programme and Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce recommendations actively seek to address inequalities in employment, training and education. 6.5.2 Socio-economic Duty - None 6.5.3 Islands – None 6.6 Climate Change - None 6.7 Risk – Failure to support young people into positive destinations will impact on the life chances of young people across the Local Authority area and may result in outward migration of young people. 6.8 Customer Service – This report provides elected members with an overview on Service performance. 6.9 The Rights of the Child (UNCRC) – Article 29 of the UNCRC states Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to: (a) The development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential; (d) The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society. Douglas Hendry - Executive Director with responsibility for Education Councillor Audrey Forrest - Policy Lead for Education For further information contact: Simon Easton, Education Manager, Telephone: 01436 657681 Email: simon.easton@argyll-bute.gov.uk