Renfrewshire Council

The Scottish Government carried out an EQIA of their YPG strategy. The data report produced as part of this process has provided a comprehensive evidence base helpful in developing the YPG and this EQIA.  

Given the lack of Renfrewshire level equalities data we are assuming the same (potential) inequalities at a national level apply in Renfrewshire, backed up with local level data where available eg age and gender .

The most recent SDS Participation Measure report (Sept 21) shows an improvement in the overall participation measure from 92.2% of 16-19 year olds participating to 93% which is on a par with the Scottish average rate. There is a limit in what protected characteristic information we currently have however we know that males are less likely to be participating in learning, work or other positive post school destination than young women. This year we see a particularly high in education figure - 78.3%. The figure is higher for female - 83.4 % and a significantly lower for males ,73.2%. Males are more likely to be in employment (16.3% ) than females(10.5%) albeit both figures are lower than previous years.  

The unconfirmed status has improved from 5% to 4.6% and SDS and partners are working hard to engage with these young people to determine their status and need for support.

Age impacts on measure - the rate drops from 99.2% for 16's to 86.3% by 19 in part down to increasing % unconfirmed as age increases from 0.2 for 16's to a significantly higher level of 11.1 for 19's. 

National level data highlights that the participation rates are higher for black and Asian ethnic monitory young people than for white albeit there is a far lower rate for those not disclosing their ethnicity. Wider evidence would suggest some ethnic minority groups are more likely to be unemployed . Participation rates for young people with a disability are lower (again, national picture), and there is wider evidence that youth unemployment is significantly higher for young people with a disability. Engagement with partners and staff highlight the need for additional provision to meet the needs of this group of young people.

The SIMD gap although significant (9.7%) has been reducing year on year since 2016 (13.3%). It is possible to drill down to intermediate data zone level where those areas with the highest levels can be identified and targeted. 8 intermediate datazones mainly across Paisley and 1 each in Johnston and Renfrew have rates below 90% and despite an overall increase in rate for Renfrewshire all except 1, have seen rates reduce which would suggest these areas require targeted action. Further data can be seen further in the report where we also identify the highest claimant count rates.

Local Claimant count rates for young people doubled during the pandemic - more than any other age group. The rates are higher for young men than women and higher in our 15% datazone areas. No further segmentation of data is available . Rates for all groups of young people  have dropped significantly from the peek in Aug20 and now sit pre Covid levels.

There is a lack of local level data on unemployment rates/ post school participation levels for Minority ethnic groups and refugees however national data suggests some groups have poorer  
outcomes. 

National evidence suggests those from minority ethnic and minority racial groups are more likely to live in deprived areas and in poverty, and are twice as likely to be unemployed as people from white communities. Previous economic recessions and the economic impact of COVID-19 has disproportionately affected employment of those from minority ethnic and minority racial backgrounds, with women from these backgrounds more at risk of job disruption and precarious employment. 

Male unemployment is significantly higher than Female unemployment. 

In relation to young women , there are a number of structural barriers in place concerning women's employment and opportunities available to them (including occupational segregation, lack of flexible working, caring responsibilities, discrimination, and increased likelihood of working in insecure employment) 

Our YPG provision does not meet the needs of all equalities groups.

Renfrewshire LEP has a very strong focus on supporting young people and adults with barriers to employment. A new YPG Coordination groups has been established which alongside the key youth employability services now has the care experienced ambassador for Renfrewshire and when the YPG Youth Panel is in place will have youth representation members. In addition the LEP has 5 Operational sub groups in place each focusing on a priority group - Disabilities; Health Conditions and Recovery; Care Experienced Young People; BAME; Criminal Justice and SIMD. These groups inform the delivery plan including YPG provision. Young People are a priority for all these groups which have recently been 'refreshed' and are undertaking a significant, evidence gathering and provision mapping process to identify potential gaps in service delivery. This has and will inform future commissioning by the LEP. The groups evidence/data roles will help to fill the gap in evidence available at a local level.

We also hosted a virtual Leaving No One Behind In Renfrewshire Employability conference in June 21 for employability practitioners and other stakeholders. This included 2 workshops to consider equality issues and identify further actions. Supporting young people with disabilities /additional support needs was identified as a key priority. The delivery plan reflects this with 3 new supported employment programmes now commissioned as well as a new Employer Recruitment Initiative specifically for this priority group.

There are other new programmes in place targeting care experienced young people;low income parents;  women (including those experiencing domestic violence) and people with convictions and outreach support in areas where the rates of youth unemployment are highest.

Our Third Sector Interface has established a local BAME network with employability being a key focus. We are currently working with the lead to link the network with our LEP working groups to help understand and respond to the specific barriers faced by our BAME youth population. An earlier research project has provided some intelligence that has informed our delivery plan.

There are many other new YPG opportunities available aimed more generally at young people with barriers and all providers will be gathering and tracking equalities data and taking action to ensure specific personal characteristic groups are not being excluded/are not engaging.

A new YPG Instagram account has been established and we have improved our YPG website to align it with the national website. We are currently considering translation options within this.

A Renfrewshire Opportunities Portal is available via our YPG website listing our YPG opportunities.

The delivery plan includes targeted early engagement work with school leavers/non-attenders and work in our 5% datazones undertaken by voluntary sector partners with significant experience in youth engagement.

This is in response to significant challenges since the early days of the pandemic in engaging young people despite opportunities being available - particularly through the recovery phase.

The LEP Operational groups will also play a key role in raising awareness of the services available though front line staff.

Equality Training - mandatory equality and diversity training for all staff; additional equalities training has been promoted via the various employability networks. A pilot Race Equality and Employment training course was provided by Engage and CEMVO which will be evaluated and rolled out across the partnership.

Our NOLB conference provided a workshop on Service user led design - encouraging all delivery partners to consider how we involve people with lived experience of unemployment/employment barriers in service design. We are promoting the Scottish Approach to Service Design and will be identifying and training Champions across the Employability partnership to cascade the learning and practice across teams/depts/agencies including the council.

We are putting processes in place to ensure young people are able influence the YPG programme in Renfrewshire.

Our youth involvement work may not reflect the views or experiences of all protected characteristic groups.

This will include working with young people to ensure our local YPG Youth Panel is suitably representative; building links with the national YPG Youth Panel; and considering and acting on the findings of our

YPG Youth Survey.

To help us consider how best we engage monitory ethnic young people, we will be working closely with the recently established In Ren network.

Youth / lived experience involvement

We will monitor equality groups membership of the YPG Youth Panel and involvement  wider youth engagement work.

Uptake of YPG provision

We will use the Halon Case Management system to monitor uptake of the YPG provision by Equality groups.

Local data sets where available

We will continue to monitor progress with tackling inequalities using what segmented labour market data is available to us