West Berkshire maintains low scorecard

West Berkshire continues to be one of the highest performing (top 20%) areas in England for low numbers of young people recorded as either Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) or not known.

This is according to the latest comparative data scorecard published by the Department for Education (DfE).

The scorecard shows how local authorities are performing in their duties to support young people aged 16 and 17 to participate in education, employment or training and how well they achieve. 

For all but one of the measures, West Berkshire has shown improvement on the previous year. 

The measure highlighted for improvement shows a decrease in the numbers of young people participating in full-time education. 

However, this has been offset by an increase in the numbers of young people opting for an alternative apprenticeship or training route, with the proportion of young people following this increasingly popular alternative locally and exceeding the England average.

Lynne Doherty, West Berkshire’s Executive Member for Education said:” We are delighted with our scores. The scorecard clearly shows that there are good opportunities and a high level of support for our young people to take their next step onward from school.”

*The scorecard covers the period December 2016 to February 2017.