To ask the Minister for Employment and Learning (i) whether the Pathways for Young People Education Maintenance Allowance was included in the formal interim evaluation of the Pathways to Success Strategy: and (ii) to detail the nature of its evaluation.

The formal interim evaluation conducted a range of investigations with young people and the organisations representing them. It did not find any significant opinion, either way, on the issue of incentives being useful or not in attracting young people. This finding fits with our experience that not all organisations availed of the opportunity to use allowances to incentivise participation, even though there was funding available to do so.

The formal interim evaluation of the Pathways to Success Strategy, and the various approaches within this to dealing with the issue of young people not in education, employment or training, was received in April 2015. This overall evaluation includes six main strands of work, including the Collaboration and Innovation Fund, Local Employment Intermediary Service, Community Family Support, Youth Employment Scheme and First Start. The evaluation was undertaken by the Centre for Economic & Social Inclusion, a London based not-for-profit-company.