More young people stay on track

Young people are a key focus for the Ministry. We know young people not engaged in education, employment or training are less likely to succeed.

Opportunities for young people to enter the workforce

Young people have been disproportionately affected by the recession. From a low of 3,526 in April 2008, youth unemployment numbers reached up to 23,500 in early 2010. The first half of 2011 has seen youth unemployment numbers declining rapidly, with a 26 per cent reduction from January to June.

Over the year we ran several youth-focused programmes:

• Job Ops helps employers to take on young people they may not otherwise be able to employ. During 2010/2011, 5,822 young people learnt new skills while earning a wage with 3,488 participating employers through Job Ops. They also received mentoring support and had opportunities to progress their skills within the work environment.
• Community Max provides a wage subsidy and training for young people who work on community-based projects. The expected outcome of Community Max is for young people to gain work, work experience or on-the-job skills to help them get into employment. In 2010/2011, 1,469 young people participated in the Community Max programme.
• Limited Service Volunteer programme is a six-week residential course that addresses issues such as a lack of motivation or confidence. In partnership with the New Zealand Defence Force, around 1,800 young people attended courses in either Burnham, Trentham or Hobsonville Defence bases over the past year. The courses focused on people aged 18–24 years who had been on a benefit for more than six months. After the course, all participants received ongoing contact to connect them to work, training or education.
• Youth Transition Services funds providers to help young people move from school into further education, training, work or other meaningful activities. In 2010/2011, Youth Transition Services helped 8,335 young people into employment, training or further education. This was 29 per cent more than in 2009/2010 (6,468 young people).

Since Job Ops started in August 2009, 84% (7,263) of participants who were expected to complete the programme by 30 June 2011 were not on benefit at that time.

Since Community Max started in August 2009, 73% (2,597) of participants who were expected to complete the programme by 30 June 2011 were not on benefit at that time.

Supporting positive choices

The Prime Minister's Youth Programme

Through the Prime Minister’s Youth Programme, we continued to foster and celebrate achievement by young people aged 14–17 years who have overcome adversity to make good life choices.

In January 2011, 100 young people from South and West Auckland at risk of poor social outcomes participated in five-day arts or sports programmes. This gave them opportunities to learn from high achieving New Zealanders such as Oliver Driver, Sara Tetro, Eroni Clarke, Luisa Auisa Auaiki and David Atai.

Making and sustaining positive life changes is difficult for some young people.

Range, Reach and Relevance

Through the Range, Reach and Relevance initiative in 2010/2011, we worked with providers to evolve their programmes into new models to ensure that more young people had access to positive opportunities.

We supported national programmes which provided opportunities to over 35,105 young people through the Duke of Edinburgh’s Hillary Award, SCOUTS New Zealand, Spirit of Adventure, Stage Challenge, Young Enterprise Trust, Project K and the Youth Cultures and Community Trust.

Break-Away School Holiday programmes

The Break-Away School Holiday programmes are delivered in areas that face social and economic disadvantage. During 2010/2011, we provided places for over 25,000 young people aged 11–17 years to take part in one-week school holiday programmes arranged by over 60 providers.

The Break-Away School Holiday programmes are available at no cost.

Opportunities for young people to contribute to decisions that affect them

Youth Parliament

In July 2010, 122 Youth Members of Parliament and a 10-member Youth Press Gallery attended a two-day Youth Parliament at Parliament Buildings in Wellington. The programme included question time, caucus committees, the presentation of select committee reports to the House, and a legislative debate leading to a vote on the Adult Rights and Responsibilities (Age of Majority) Bill 2010.

Youth Consultation

During 2010/2011, our Aotearoa Youth Voices Network enabled national and local government agencies to bring young people’s voices into a wider range of policy and decision-making settings early in the process. The network connected 3,761 young people from around New Zealand with government and community decision makers to talk about important youth issues such as health and education.

Aotearoa Youth Voices Network and additional consultation initiatives in the 2010/2011 year have included:

• training 40 selected members to sit on community and national and regional funding panels
• participation in the Ministry of Youth Development National Youth Advisory Group
• participation in youth consultations with young people on topics such as proposed changes to University entry requirements, Northland young people’s views on what is important and of concern to them, and health care services in the Lakes District Health Board area (a total of 2,556 young people took part in these consultations).

We also ran 117 network workshops which provided 2,273 young people with leadership skills and opportunities, and an understanding of effective participation in the public decision-making process. This was an increase from the 40 workshops delivered in 2009/2010.

We continue to promote opportunities for young people to be part of policy processes that affect them.

Student Services made easy

Over 130,000 students or 64 per cent of students with current loans or allowances receive their StudyLink correspondence online.

Students can use Sussed, our online reality check and decision support interactive programme, to help them plan and understand the costs they will face while studying. Sussed is targeted to Years 12 and 13 students.

Students can also now receive and accept Student Loan contracts online. This process has been made faster for over 120,000 students. It has also significantly reduced our carbon footprint.

2010–2013 Statement of Intent Performance Indicators

More young people stay on track