- Faoi SDLP
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Smaointe
- 1.A United Ireland
- 2.Acht na Gaeilge
- 3.Agriculture/Rural Communities
- 4.Education
- 5.Eleven Plus
- 6.Environment & Climate Change
- 7.Equality & Human Rights
- 8.Fighting Poverty
- Ionadaithe
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Mon 6th February
Speaking to a motion to expedite the finalisation and implementation of a cross-departmental strategy for NEETS and the review of the Education Maintenance Allowance, the Foyle MLA will say: “On 14th December, Departmental officials came before the DEL Committee to brief us on the progress of the draft [Pathways to Success] strategy and I must say, I was very disappointed at what we were told.
“One thing was clear – the wider context and ownership of the Strategy was for DEL and I question their readiness to address NEETs in a comprehensive manner.
Mr Ramsey will also point out that the Labour Force Survey for NEETs in Northern Ireland used indicative, rather than concrete, data, which was then used for forward planning.
“There are no targets or set goals for reducing the number of young people who are NEET – this is what we are supposed to be doing, yet it remains, from what we have been told, some distance off before we get to that point.”
Addressing the EMA Review, he will say: “There are two key issues – primarily the need to ensure that as many young people as possible stay on at school post-16 so they can gain qualifications to ensure they play a full part in the future labour market, but also that we are careful to the sensitive issues that mean young people who are not engaged with formal education are catered for in a financial sense.
He will also call for those in pre-vocational schemes who are not currently eligible for EMA to be included in the review.
“This is a legacy issue,” he will say. “We must address these difficult issues in a manner that will address the short term, long term and framework issues or we risk the future of the local economy being bereft of young people.”
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