Parliament has now entered the summer recess, our PM is on a long walk and Ministers and MP’s return to their constituencies until September. It seems incredible to think that it will be another 6 weeks before things begin to move again in terms of policy. From my meetings with civil servants across DfE and DWP I hear that the Ministers have had their last “box” of reading and this quiet period will be used to reflect on policy and strategy. The civil servants however, are not so lucky and are busy creating proposals to be reviewed upon the return of the chiefs.
Anne Milton MP who replaced Robert Halfon MP has been working hard to get a handle on her big policy briefs. She has the apprenticeship and skills brief which also includes traineeships, technical, post 16 and adult education as well as reducing the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) and the careers agenda. In her first few weeks she has already pushed back the start date for Technical Education reform, reenergized the careers strategy and seen the opening of the procurement process for non-levy paying employers.
I am told that she is very committed to the youth employment agenda and seeing young people as part of the solutions to the services they benefit from. Having met with the head of the careers strategy only last week it seems the new Minister is keen to make sense of the journey for young people and ensure they have the quality support they need to progress.
I have also had meetings and calls with the Cabinet Office who are putting together a team to lead on the Inclusive Economy Agenda, using some of the insight from the Taylor Review the Cabinet Office are building a team of experts to lead on some roundtable discussions to understand what the needs are of the economy today and in the future. Social Mobility and youth employment are a clear part of this strategy and it has been a good platform for me to discuss the work of some of our members.
We should probably all be grateful in some way for the summer recess. Prior to it there was constant policy reform and development and I have no doubt we will continue at that rapid pace once the MP’s are back in Westminster. The civil servants we work closely with are absolutely committed to supporting young people and reducing youth unemployment, however, I can not help but feel that all of this constant change could have a damaging impact on young people.
We must watch closely the impact of the GCSE grading changes, apprenticeship policy and welfare reform. Ensuring that our young people have our support and are able to progress to fulfill their potential. They do not ask for these reforms yet can be more diversely impacted by them. Unintended consequences must be considered. I am looking to form an expert group that will look at the unintended consequences of the Apprenticeship Levy to ensure that as the policy makes progress we are mindful of its challenges.
