Evaluation of the Youth Engagement and Progression Framework: follow-up study

This report presents the findings of a short follow-up study, commissioned in the autumn of 2015, in order to capture progress, since the last evaluation a year earlier, of local authorities and their partners in continuing to implement the framework.

The follow up study included:

• document review
• interviews with key national stakeholders and with core personnel in each Local Authority (LA) area
• a web-based survey of just under 1,300 local partners, which attracted more than 430 responses
• a case study of the North Wales regional partnership approach to implementing the framework.

Main findings

• Progress in relation to early identification, brokerage and tracking has continued to be strong, particularly with regard to young people aged up to 18. Few authorities are developing arrangements that cover the framework as a whole and the employability strand is the most under-developed element.
• There has been increased communication and co-ordination between stakeholders as a result of the Framework, partners remain positive about it though LAs report that funding reductions and re-structuring are challenging progress and that the vital role of the Engagement and Progression Co-ordinator is at risk if further funding is not provided by the Welsh Government.
• Whilst it is too early for the framework to have impacted upon the rates of young people who are NEET, many LAs reported improvements in numbers.
• Pre-16 early identification has expanded since the main formative evaluation. The regional approach in place in North Wales was found to be effective in these areas.
• The Careers Wales database is fundamental to the early identification, brokerage and tracking systems of LAs. In the majority of cases, the LA works to check, correct and use this data. However, its quality and therefore its uses are limited, largely as a result of variation in data collection between LAs.
• Post-16 providers’ early identification data are often of variable quality. Accountability for post-18 is under-developed and there are gaps in the provision of lead workers for this group.