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The Programme for Government prioritised the Young Person’s Guarantee as a key commitment for the sixth Sendedd term, to mitigate the disproportionate impacts of the Covid pandemic on children and young people under 25. The aim is to ensure no one is left behind or held back as a result of the covid pandemic.

This commitment to young people, is one of the 5 key areas of action within the Plan for Employability and Skills, for this government term.

Describe and explain the impact of the proposal on children and young people

The Young Person’s Guarantee is an ambitious programme that is intended to provide everyone under 25 across Wales with an offer of support into work, education, training or self-employment. With this guarantee, we want to ensure that there is no lost generation here in Wales.

Supporting young people to enter and progress in education, employment and training, is a key intervention to mitigate the risk of any long-term effects of disrupted learning, delayed labour market entry, furlough or unemployment as a result of COVID-19.

We need to give children and young people hope for the future and to ensure that they are not left behind. It is more important than ever that we support children and young people to gain the skills and experiences that they will need to succeed, whether that’s in employment, education or starting their own business.

Nurturing a generation of young talent, and activating people into Education, Employment or Training (EET) is vital to raise aspirations and opportunity particularly for those young people for whom unemployment may already be entrenched in their family, to prevent labour market detachment and the scarring effects of periods of inactivity.

Our approach seeks where possible to prevent the need for young people to access the welfare system, which has risks in terms of longer-term cyclical reliance, and instead support people into work, self-employment, education or training in the short term. This is in addition to preventing and recovering lost learning as a result of the COVID-19 disruptions to schools, settings, and colleges.

Explain how the proposal is likely to impact on children’s rights

The UNCRC is an international agreement which protects the human rights of children and young people under the age of 18.

The Plan for Employabillity and Skills seeks to support Articles 2, 3, 13, 23, 28, 29, 30 and 32 by promoting equity in access to information, support, opportunity and progression in education, training or fair employment. This includes targeted action to support Disabled People in line with the Social Model of Disability, the right for young people to use the language of their families, and promoting an individualised approach to support young people to meet their potential.