PART 1
(OPEN TO THE PUBLIC)
ITEM NO.
REPORT OF THE CONNEXIONS MANAGER FOR SALFORD
TO THE CHILDREN’S SERVICES SCRUTINY COMMITTEE ON
8 DECEMBER 2004
TITLE:
CONNEXIONS SALFORD: PERFORMANCE REPORT
RECOMMENDATIONS: It is recommended that members note the content of this report
and the progress that has been made in achieving the targets for the Connexions Service.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The primary target for the Connexions Service is to reduce the
number of young people aged 16-18 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) and
also to reduce the number in the same age range whose activity status is not known.
The target for Connexions Salford is to reduce the % of 16-18 year olds who are NEET to 10.26%
by November 2004. All Connexions Services in Greater Manchester given a target of 5% for the %
of 16-18 year olds reported as “unknown” as at November 2004.
As at 24 November 2004 Connexions Salford has exceeded achievement of its target to reduce
NEET by 0.32%. Connexions Salford has also succeeded in reducing the % of 16-18 year olds
whose activity status is not known to 0.35% below the overall Greater Manchester target.
BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS:
CONTACT OFFICER: Annette Hughes (Connexions Salford Manager)/Faith Mann
TEL NO: 0161 778 0139
WARD(S) TO WHICH REPORT RELATES: All
KEY COUNCIL POLICIES: Strategy for Children and Young People,
Community Plan,
Education Development Plan
REPORT DETAILS
NB Please note that the statistical information provided in this report for November 2004 has not been
formally validated and will not necessarily be the final version reported to Greater Manchester
Connexions Partnership and Government Office. Information for November 2004 is correct as at 24
November 2004.
1
Background : Connexions Targets
1.1
The primary target for the Connexions Service is to reduce the number of young people aged 16-18 who
are not in education, employment or training (NEET) and also to reduce the number in the same age
range whose activity status is not known.
1.2
The target for Connexions Salford is to reduce the % of 16-18 year olds who are NEET to 10.26% by
November 2004. The overall Greater Manchester (GM) target for the % of 16-18 year olds reported as
'unknown' as at November 2004 is 8.5% (however to ensure that this target was met all Connexions
Services in GM were instructed to record the target for November as 5%).
1.3
September to November are crucial months for Connexions staff to follow up Salford 2004 school
leavers (Annual Activity Survey) so we can confirm that they have either progressed to further
education (FE), a government supported programme (Apprenticeships or work based learning) or
employment. We are not yet at the end of this follow up process and will not be officially reporting to
Services to Children and Young People (SCYP) until 14 January 2005, although we would hope that
interim reports could be available in late December 2004.
1.4
In addition to the primary target, Connexions Salford has a local target which is to improve the numbers
of 16-18 year olds in the 5 targeted wards of Broughton, Langworthy, Ordsall, Weaste and Seedley and
Winton who are in education, employment or training (EET). We are due to report by ward at the end
of Quarter 2 (December 2004).
2
Performance to November 2004
2.1
The graphs below show the progress that has been made towards the two key targets for Connexions.
2.2
As at 24 November 2004 we have exceeded achievement of our target to reduce NEET by 0.32%. We
have also succeeded in reducing the % of 16-18 year olds whose activity status is not known to 0.35%
below the overall GM target.
2.3
The following factors affect the overall performance in the main target areas every month:

According to the method for calculating NEET % nationally target group is number of 16 - 18 year olds
minus the number of 16-18 not knowns;




2.4
Each month the cohort of 16-18 year olds reduces as young people become 19 (this can lower the cohort
by up to 376 young people in one month);
The baseline figures for the targets were not based on accurate information, as no-one previously has
had responsibility for following up all 16-19 year olds;
Connexions Management Information (MI) Requirements have changed over the period that progress in
this target area has been measured e.g. in November 2002 young people in part time activities would
have counted as NEET, by November 2003 they are included in EET figures.
April 2003 saw the introduction of automated Connexions MI housekeeping. If young people’s activity
status is not confirmed within the time periods set out in the Connexions MI Guide (e.g. every year for
those in FE and every 3 months for those known to be NEET), they automatically ‘lapse’ into the ‘not
known’ category. (This facility was introduced across the GM area at an early stage compared to other
Connexions Partnerships nationally, making national comparisons difficult.)
The table below is an attempt to illustrate the progress made over a period of time (bearing in mind the
factors listed above), giving numbers of young people as well as percentages.
November 2003
November 2004
Number in NEET group
NEET % of target group*
Number in target group*
November
2002*
693
10.87%
6374
696
11.3%
6178
669
9.94%
6724
Number in EET
EET % of whole cohort
5681
82.7%
5461
75.4%
6055
83.16
Number situation not known
Situation not known % of whole
cohort
Number in whole cohort 16-18
490
7.13%
1059
14.6%
557
7.65%
6864
7237
7281
NB in November 2002 Connexions had only been operational for 3 months.
2.5
Significant progress has been made in reducing the number of young people whose activity status is not
known. This means either that we have been able to confirm they are in EET, or we have discovered
they are NEET and are able to offer our support.
2.6
Interestingly the number of NEET young people has not varied greatly over the 3 years above.
However this is not a static group; as many as 200 young people join and leave the NEET group each
month. High numbers of those who leave the NEET group do so because they cannot maintain contact
with the service, or more positively a significant number leave to go into employment. There is also an
important issue of retention in EET as the highest number of joiners to the NEET group each month is
those who re-establish contact or who have left employment.
2.7
Nevertheless the following features are examples of what has influenced progress over the last 3 years:


Late night telephone tracking of young people who are ‘unknown’ those who will lapse into unknown if
their status is not confirmed;
Implementation of a system for highlighting possible in month ‘lapses’ into unknown and allocation to
named Connexions staff for follow up;


3
Prompt data sharing by college partners in particular, to confirm enrolments and re-enrolments of
college students;
Better analysis of Connexions MI, including analysis of the NEET group by age, ward, gender etc to
help influence provision.
Other performance measures



In August 2004 881 young people accessed help from Connexions through one of our centres or part
time access points (in August 2003 the figure was 776).
In October 2003 we had carried out 492 face to face interventions with 13 – 16 year olds and in October
2004 this figure was 513.
In October 2003 we had carried out 909 face to face interventions with 16-19 year olds and in October
2004 this figure was 1212.
Salford NEET 16-18 year olds - November (interim) 2004
20%
16.60%
15%
11.20%
10.47%
10%
9.23%
11.00% 11.20%
9.10%
9.86%
12.10% 12.25% 10.26%
10.85%
Actual
10.23% 10.00%
9.47%
9.30%
9.18%
9.20%
9.18%
Target
9.94%
5%
0%
April
May
June
July
August
Sept.
Oct.
Nov
607
548
511
551
498
725
740
669
5417
5232
5178
5008
4445
5989
6819
6724
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
No. of NEETs
0
0
0
0
Total Cohort =
EETs +
NEETs
Salford - 16-18 year olds Lapsed/Unknown- November 2004 (interim) 2004
25.00%
22.85%
22%
20.00%
15.90%
15.00%
14%
12.37%
Actual
12.99%
Target
10.70%
10.00%
9.50%
10%
9.22%
10%
10%
10%
7.65%
6.66%
5.38% 5.00% 5%
5.00%
5%
5%
0.00%
April
May
June
July
August
Sept
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
March
765
783
623
526
842
1774
693
557
0
0
0
0
No.Unknown
6182
6027
5801
5534
5287
7763
7512
7281
0
0
0
0
Total Cohort