To ask the Minister for Employment and Learning how his Department plans to develop mechanisms for young people to expand their engagement with the implementation of the Pathways to Success strategy; with particular focus on their involvement when setting revised outcomes.

The ‘Pathways to Success’ approach has a particular focus on helping those young people who face barriers to participation, while also dovetailing with complementary proposals to tackle the wider problem of youth unemployment in the current challenging economic context.

In developing the ‘Pathways to Success’ strategy, my Department helped establish the independent NEET (not in employment, education or training) forum to engage and help join up those organisations in the voluntary and community sector who deliver services in this area. Forum members are also represented on the NEET Advisory Group.

The NEET Strategy Forum has established the NEET Youth Forum (NYF), a regional network of young people who have experienced difficulties in accessing meaningful education, employment and training. Regional NEET Youth Hubs provide the members for a NYF. To support this work, my Department has recently agreed to provide £108,000 funding to continue the work of the Forum in 2015/16.

The NEET Youth Forum takes a ‘learning by doing’ approach. Members share knowledge and lived experiences, and develop a collective understanding of the NEET reduction agenda, and the workings of associated strategy. Through this active engagement and participation, they develop an informed collective position that enables them to proactively engage in the development of policy, programmes and services. The ultimate aim is that members have influenced the improvement of economic outcomes for young people further removed from the labour market.