Who would want to be young today?

To coincide with yesterday’s A Level results there were two reports published that should concern everyone with an interest in young people and their future.

The first is from the Institute for Public Policy Research & the Private Equity Foundation which found that in the current climate the ‘prospect of becoming NEET rises by 40 per cent for those with A-levels’.

According the the findings ‘Research by the ippr and the Private Equity Foundation (PEF) shows that young people due to find out A-level results on Thursday 18 August could have a difficult year ahead of them despite their achievements. Their risk of becoming so-called “NEET” (Not in Education, Employment or Training) has increased by over 40 per cent since the onset of the recession.

Just over 9 per cent of those with Level 3 qualifications (which includes A-levels) were classified as NEET in the first quarter of 2010, up from 6.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2008.

And recent graduates, who might have hoped that a degree would cushion them from unemployment, are likely to get an even bigger shock. Graduates have seen the fastest increase in the numbers becoming NEET, with their risk growing by 50 per cent over the last two years.'

However the ippr’s new analysis of the Labour Force Survey also tells another story: young people with no qualifications remain far more vulnerable than their more highly qualified counterparts. A shocking 36.1 per cent of young people who’ve left school empty-handed are NEET. This is far higher than those with degrees (11.4%) and those with Level 3 qualifications (9.1%). The percentage of young people with no qualifications who are NEET has hardly changed since the recession started, suggesting a long-term problem whose causes are not connected to the recent economic upheaval.

The second report was from Demos and the Foyer Federation is calling for a ‘non-graduate talent pool’ which would benefit business, the economy and at-risk young people including Neets (not in employment, education or training).
Think tank Demos is calling for a reward scheme for employers to help get disadvantaged young people into work placements normally dominated by the middle classes.

Access all areas says a ‘pay-back’ scheme should be offered to businesses that offer quality internships to Neets, young offenders and care leavers, if the intern secures stable employment within a year of completing their placement.

Demos suggests rewarding employers with between £1,000 and £5,000 for every successful intern who moves from welfare into work would help mitigate the £120,000 each Neet costs the state annually.

The report, published by the Foyer Federation, also recommends reviewing Job Seeker’s Allowance to ensure the system does not disincentivise young people, and introducing a nationwide internship network allowing companies to share experiences of working with disadvantaged young people.

Demos director and report co-author Julia Margo said: ‘Internships are about who you know and what you know – you need contacts and qualifications. But they should be seen primarily as a way to learn.

‘Getting at-risk young people into internships will go a long way to giving them the opportunities and aspirations open to middle class graduates – we should think of them as a “non-graduate talent pool”.’

Foyer Federation chief executive Jane Slowey added: ‘Targeted investment in talent-building approaches can reap significant returns and benefits by helping young people and their services and communities, to unlock unused potential.’

Quote of the Day

It’s a quote by the former Chancellor Alistair Darling during a speech in Edinburgh this week primarily aimed at Gordon Brown and his advisors refusal to engage with the wider deficit debate before and during the General Election which Mr Darling believes cost Labour the election, but it also applies to every party in Wales.

"You will only convince people you've got the answers if they believe you know what the question is in the first place. You can't have political credibility without economic credibility."

What else are AM’s staff up to?

It may be dismissed as a silly season story by the politicians, but the Western Mail article claiming damaging details about Welsh AM’s and MP’s are being deleted from online information site Wikipedia from computers in Cardiff Bay is a rather worrying development especially with so little scrutiny of Welsh Politicians in general and worse still it seems all the parties are at it.

AM’s staff work in a political environment, but are employed by the National Assembly for Wales not by the Political Parties unlike at Westminster and should know full well that such overt political activities should not be undertaken in politicians offices in Cardiff Bay.

It also begs the questions about what else are tax payer funded staff are doing for their bosses instead of contributing to the daily business in the Assembly after all those of us who blog know that our blogs are read often during offices hours by people in Cardiff Bay and Westminster, far more often that is healthy if you ask me.

And of course it contradicts a lot of what Welsh Ministers and politicians say about anything that's written online is totally irrelevant and only read by a handful of political anoraks and insiders. If that’s true why are they getting staff to rewrite history over at Wikipedia and continually monitoring what’s written on Welsh Political blogs and websites?

‘Trident’s replacement makes welfare cuts harder to justify'.

Its seems that Nick Clegg has taken a crash course at the School of Stating the Blindingly obvious with his comments at today’s press conference that justifying making the poorest and most vulnerable people in the UK even poorer will be harder when the Coalition will spend billions on a new Nuclear deterrent to replace Trident.

In Nick's next press conference this week he will tell us the Pope is Catholic and that scientists have found out that bear’s poo in the Woods – you heard it hear first :)

But on a more serious note Nick Clegg of course refused to say that the slash and burn would be less severe as a result sticking to the ‘its all Labour fault’ mantra that will only wash with people for so long when the cuts really bite.

And we shouldn’t forget the Lib Dems fought the General Election on a platform of opposing a like for like replacement of Trident, but with the amount of uturns the Coalition’s has done since being elected, like the Lib Dems economic flip flop wont worry the Deputy PM too much i’m sure, but is causing real concern for his party.

'Number 10 to act on media 'cock-ups' '

Its seems the penny has dropped with David Cameron and his well paid commendations team that the new Government’s PR of late has been nothing short of a disaster and they need to get a grip asap, especially with rapidly falling approval ratings for the Coalition after less than 100 days in office.

A leading PR magazine the week wrote ‘PRWeek has learned that key figures in Number 10, and a number of ministerial special advisers, are becoming increasingly restless about the comms set-up in certain departments.

Last week's fiasco over free school milk is the latest negative headline to enrage coalition comms chiefs such as Andy Coulson, Gabby Bertin and Jonny Oates.

Two weeks earlier, Downing Street was forced to intervene after Justice Minister Crispin Blunt suggested prisoners could be allowed to hold parties. Number 10 insisted there would be 'no such parties' after the comments were reported in a newspaper.

And in July, education secretary Michael Gove was forced to apologise to the Commons and council leaders after it emerged that an initial list of 715 Building Schools for the Future projects was riddled with errors.

Coalition comms chiefs are also said to be alarmed by the number of sensitive documents that have been leaked to the press in recent weeks, with many pointing the finger at Whitehall departments. And there is concern that some departmental press offices have distributed quotes that are overtly political. For example, earlier this year, a Department for Education spokesman was widely quoted accusing
Labour's Ed Balls of 'confecting lies' about school selection.

A source close to Downing Street said: 'Number 10 and some of the new spads [special advisers] are increasingly frustrated with the standard of comms. They're annoyed at recent cock-ups. They're especially annoyed with the Department for Education.

'There is a recognition in Downing Street that something has to be done. They now realise that their hands-off approach was a touch naive.'

Senior Whitehall figures responded by privately attacking Downing Street for seeking to 'shift the blame' from hapless ministers. Another Whitehall source said Number 10 was 'too laissez faire in the early days'.'