Chamber and committees

An additional 23 pre-registration student nurse (adult nursing) intake places have been allocated to the Open University.

The Annual Population Survey (APS) is the official source for data on people not in education, employment or training. Table 1 shows the latest estimates from the APS, covering each year since 2007, of the numbers of people aged 16 to 19 not in education, employment or training in Scotland. It has not been possible to break these estimates down by local authority area because the sample sizes are too small to provide reliable estimates.

Table 1: Proportion and level of 16-to-19 year olds NEET, Scotland, 2007-2009

Source: Annual Population Survey, Jan-Dec.

Note:

1. Estimates are rounded to nearest thousand.

In his strategic letter of guidance to the Scottish Funding Council earlier this year, The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning made clear his wish to see colleges give priority to give to 16 to 24-year-olds, including those who need more choices and chances. Our ambitions for all young people are reflected in our key learning strategies, including Skills for Scotland, 16+ Learning Choices, and Curriculum for Excellence.

Addressing the needs of the More Choices, More Chances (MCMC) group is therefore a mainstream activity for all colleges and we expect an element of the substantial resource we make available to be deployed to that end.

We recognise, however, that MCMC is a challenging agenda. It was against this background that the Scottish Funding Council allocated some specific and additional funding for strategic improvements in targeted colleges that might inform improvement across the sector. This funding was allocated as follows overleaf.

Table 1: Additional MCMC Allocated Funding 2007-08 to 2009-10