Annual Participation Measure 2022-23
Argyll and Bute Council · 14 December 2023
Back to Community Services Committee — 14 December 2023 and its agenda
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ARGYLL AND BUTE COUNCIL COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE EDUCATION 14 DECEMBER 2023 ANNUAL PARTICIPATION MEASURE 2022-23 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 in August 2023, covering the period April 2022 – March 2023. 1.2 The Annual Participation Measure (APM) reports nationally on the economic and employment activity of the wider 16-19 year old cohort, 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 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 14 DECEMBER 2023 ANNUAL PARTICIPATION MEASURE 2022-23 2.0 INTRODUCTION 2.1 The Annual Participation Measure (APM) is published in August each year and 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 2023 APM marks the ninth 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 2022 to 31st March 2023. 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 215,479 young people in Scotland aged between 16 and 19, of whom 3,156 are from Argyll and Bute. 3.0 RECOMMENDATIONS It is recommended that the Community Services Committee: 3.1 Note the publication of the 2022-2023 Annual Participation Measure; 3.2 Recognise the strong and improving performance of Argyll and Bute as a council area in facilitating the participation of 16-19 year-olds.
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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 2022 and 31st March 2023. Their overall headline classification is then decided by 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 2023 APM headline figures confirm that 95.6% of 16-19 year olds in Argyll and Bute (3,017 young people) were participating in education, training or employment, which represents an increase of 1.7% (53 young people) on 2022, and is 1.3% above the national Participation figure of 94.3% 3.0% of 16-19 year-olds in Argyll and Bute (95 young people) were not participating, which is a reduction of 0.8% (25 young people) on 2022, and 0.6% below the national figure for non-participation of 3.6%. 1.4% of 16-19 year-olds in Argyll and Bute (44 young people) have an unconfirmed status, which is a reduction of 0.9% (28 young people) on 2022, and 0.7% below the national figure for Unconfirmed status of 2.1%. The table below summarises participation in Argyll and Bute over time: 2015-2016 Argyll and Bute 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 2022-2023 Scotland Participating 94.2% 93% 94.2% 94.8% 94.1% 93.5% 93.9% 95.6% 94.3% Not Participating 3.1% 2.8% 2.7% 2.2% 2.4% 3.2% 3.8% 3.0% 3.6%
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4.5 The 2023 APM figures for Argyll and Bute exceed the Scottish average in all three classifications. Nationally, between 2021-22 and 2022-23, the Participation rate rose in 31 of the 32 local authorities and fell in one. The increase of 1.7% in those participating in Argyll and Bute, alongside such increases in almost all other Scottish local authorities has resulted in a fall from 5th in ranking of local authorities in 2021-22 to 8th in 2022-23. Argyll and Bute has been within the top ten local authorities nationally for Participation since 2018. 4.6 Participation – Employment and Education • In 2022-23 there was an increase in the number of young people in employment in Argyll and Bute from 24.2% in 2021-22 to 29.9% in 2022-23. Nationally, 21.4% of young people are in employment, which is a rise of 3.9% nationally from 2021-22. The figure for young people in employment in Argyll and Bute is 8.5% above the national average. • There was an accompanying reduction in the number of 16-19 year-olds in Argyll and Bute in education, from 68.5%% in 2021-22 to 64.3% in 2022-23. The national figure for 16-19 year olds in education is 71.3%, a fall from 73.0% in 2021-22. • Since the last pre-COVID 19 Annual Participation Measure in 2019, the number of 16-19 year-olds in education has fallen by around 7%, while the number of 16-19 year-olds in employment has risen by around 9%. 4.7 Equality Characteristics: Gender • In Argyll and Bute, females (96.1%) were slightly more likely to participate than males (95.1%). This constitutes a 2.0% increase in female participation, and a 1.4% increase in male participation. The difference is possibly due to the higher rate of females in education. • In Argyll and Bute, 57.4% of 16-19 year-old males are in education (8.9% below the national figure), compared with 72% of females (4.6% below the national figure) • 36.4% of Argyll and Bute 16-19 year-old males are in employment (9% above the national figure), compared with 22.8% of equivalent females (5.6% above the national figure). 4.8 Equality Characteristics – Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) Unconfirmed 2.7% 4.2% 3.1% 3.0% 3.5% 3.3% 2.3% 1.4% 2.1%
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• In Argyll and Bute, participation rates for young people from the most deprived backgrounds are lower than those of less deprived young people – 90.3% in the lowest SIMD group, and 97.1%% for the second highest SIMD group (the data for the highest group was not provided due to SDS disclosure control). • 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 91.0%, compared to 96.2% for those not identified as disabled. 4.10 Equality Characteristics – Ethnicity • SDS disclosure control has meant that analysis of Participation in terms of ethnicity has not been possible. 4.11 Link to Skills Development Scotland Annual Participation Measure 2022-2023: Annual Participation Measure | Skills Development Scotland 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 1.7% increase (equating to 53 individuals) in the percentage of young people from Argyll and Bute participating in education, training or employment in 2022-23. Participation rates in Argyll and Bute are above the national average in all categories, and the measures for young people not participating (3.0%) and classified as unconfirmed (1.4%) have both fallen and are below the national averages. 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 continue to rise, 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
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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. 6.0 IMPLICATIONS 6.1 Policy - This report links directly to Outcome 3 in the Argyll and Bute Outcome Improvement Plan 2013-2023 (Education Skills and Training Maximises Opportunities for All). 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. Douglas Hendry, Executive Director with responsibility for Education Councillor Yvonne McNeilly, Policy Lead for Education For further information contact: Simon Easton, Education Manager Telephone: 01436 657681 Email: simon.easton@argyll-bute.gov.uk