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Countdown to the General Election

By Andrew Gladstone-Heighton, Policy Leader, Friday 24 January 2014

Andrew Gladstone-Heighton

Firstly, a Happy New Year to you all. It’s quite interesting to note as we start 2014, we’re only 15 months or so away from the next General Election.

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An insight into employment statistics: The McKinsey report

By Nicola Hughes, Communications Leader, Thursday 23 January 2014

Nicola Hughes

At first glance the ONS (Office for National Statistics) figures for employment, covering the last three months, are encouraging, showing a drop of 39,000 in the number of 16 – 24 year olds out of work in the UK. However if we look at the figures for the last twelve months they have in fact risen from 894,000 to 902,000. Meanwhile, McKinsey & Company’s recently published report Education to employment: Getting Europe’s youth into work (January 2014) claims that youth unemployment is nothing new and has been as high as triple the rate of general unemployment in Europe for the last 20 years.  

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The latest on school league tables

By Lindsay Plumpton, Communications Leader, Thursday 23 January 2014

Lindsay Plumpton

The Department for Education has published its latest league table data showing that more schools in the UK are meeting government targets on GCSEs. The tables for 16-18 year old students have been split for the first time between academic and vocational qualifications. A total of 154 state-funded schools out of about 3,200 are classed as under-performing, which is 61 fewer than last year. Schools are said to be below target if fewer than 40% of pupils pass GCSEs including maths and English, with grades between an A* and a C, and pupils are not making enough progress.

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Preventing the young jobless becoming the young hopeless

By David Grailey, Chief Executive, Tuesday 07 January 2014

David Grailey

The Prince’s Trust charity has called for ‘better training and support to get young people jobs and avoid mental health problems.’ This follows research from the charity which says that 40% of young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) have experienced mental health problems. The trust says that almost a third of long-term unemployed young people have contemplated taking their own lives and urgent action must be taken to prevent the young jobless becoming the young hopeless.

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English and maths qualifications now fundable

By David Grailey, Chief Executive, Wednesday 11 December 2013

David Grailey

English and maths qualifications are still very much the topic of discussion at the moment, with more and more employers coming forward asking for new recruits to have these basic skills before all others. Of course, this is not the first time that low levels of literacy and numeracy have been brought to the forefront of discussions, with reports in October by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) showing how England’s 16 to 24 year olds are falling behind their Asian and European counterparts.

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