Children and Young People Committee

Child Poverty Inquiry: Additional information submitted by NCH Cymru

Delivering More Choices, More Chances:

Securing real jobs for difficult to reach young people through NCH Youthbuild

General

Scotland has one of the highest rates in Europe of unemployment among young people. NCH, therefore, welcomes the Scottish Government’s commitment to provide more choices and more chances for young people in Scotland, particularly the most excluded and disadvantaged. NCH is working in partnership with a number of local agencies to show how the problem of youth unemployment can be positively addressed for the benefit of the young people concerned and their communities, and for the wider economy, through NCH ’s Youthbuild projects.

NCH Youthbuild Model

Adam Ingram MSP, Minister for Children and Early Years, with Frank McAveety, MSP, Andrew Girvan, Director, and Paul Carberry, Depute Director, NCH Scotland and some of the trainees at the launch of the Glasgow Great Eastern Youthbuild

NCH’s innovative Youthbuild model offers training and employment opportunities in the construction industry for disadvantaged young people. We believe this model offers a better future for these young people, while helping to address labour shortages in the construction industry. The young people involved in Youthbuild come from difficult backgrounds, and face multiple challenges in finding work. This can include poor family support, issues around leaving care, homelessness, specific learning difficulties, alcohol/substance misuse, offending and poor social/personal skills. NCH believes that getting young people into work is vitally important in helping them to move forward in their lives.

The young people we work with require extra support to take the crucial first steps on the employment ladder. A key aspect of the Youthbuild model is the one-to-one support provided by NCH staff to the Youthbuild trainees to help them make the move into work. Key elements of the project focus on induction and preparation, work experience, relevant training, personal support, and core skills and development. NCH’s Youthbuild projects are proving successful in securing training and employment opportunities in the construction industry for young people. This shows what can be achieved when different agencies work together to help young people take advantage of the opportunities that are out there.

NCH Youthbuild projects

Maureen Watt MSP, Minister for Schools and Skills, with some of the

Trainees at the official launch of the Inverclyde Youthbuild

NCH currently runs 3 Youthbuild services: the Glasgow Great Eastern Youthbuild, the Inverclyde Youthbuild, and Govanhill Youthbuild, with other Youthbuild projects currently under development. These projects work on local regeneration developments and, along with local housing associations such as the Oak Tree, Cloch, Milnbank, Shettleston and Govanhill housing associations, aim to give the young people work experience on local sites where they are building homes. Other partners include the Scottish Government’s Youth Crime Prevention Fund, Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Community and Safety Services, the European Social Fund, Inverclyde Council, Scottish Enterprise and Communities Scotland. We are also actively working with 20 large construction companies.

Glasgow Great Eastern Youthbuild Project

NCH’s Glasgow Great Eastern Youthbuild was launched by Adam Ingram MSP, Minister for Children and Early Years. It is already proving successful in getting young people from the east end of Glasgow - one of the most deprived areas of Scotland - into permanent jobs in the building trade. Twelve of the young people on the project have already found permanent jobs and training, with 7 securing apprenticeships, and support is continuing for another 6 who are working towards the same goal. Future work experience will be based around the refurbishment of a landmark building in Glasgow, the B-listed building, the Great Eastern Hotel.

CYP(3)-CP3a
Case Study Kris Adair joined NCH Youthbuild in February last year and thanks to the work experience, training and tailored support he received has now been taken on as an apprentice plumber by a leading house building Mactaggart & Mickel. His previous failure to find a job left him isolated and affected his emotional well being. Kris says: "I was going through a bit of a depression, just sitting around the house all day feeling sorry for myself. When I first came to the project I was shy and felt anxious a lot of the time. NCH has helped me come out of my shell. I’m a lot more confident now and I feel I have come a long way. I now have a future to look forward to”.

Inverclyde Youthbuild Project

NCH’s Inverclyde Youthbuild was launched by Maureen Watt MSP, Minister for Schools and Skills. In its first few months the project has also proved successful in getting young people into permanent jobs in the building trade. The project started in June 2007 with 13 young people. Four of these young people have been guaranteed full time jobs or apprenticeships, and the remaining 9 are currently working on site with prospects of ongoing employment/apprenticeships. In February 2008 an additional 9 young people were recruited, and have started their training programmes. The training programme is still on-going but, even at this early stage, one of the group recruited in February has already secured the offer of a full-time job on completion of his placement.