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A Robins Foundation football session on the car park at Morrisons in Hartcliffe(Image: Robins Foundation)<\/p>\nBut there are many complex reasons why young people might not be in education, employment or trainingA Robins Foundation football session on the car park at Morrisons in Hartcliffe(Image: Robins Foundation)<\/p>\n
Bad buses and blas\u00e9 businesses have been blamed for thousands of Bristol teenagers who are not studying, working or training. Nearly 700 teenagers aged 16 and 17 aren\u2019t in education, training or employment, while 2,235 18 to 24-year-olds are receiving unemployment benefits.<\/p>\n
More disadvantaged areas on the outskirts of Bristol tend to have higher numbers<\/a>, such as Hartcliffe<\/a>, Lawrence Weston and Knowle<\/a> West. These places have few job opportunities and public transport links to the rest of the city, making access to colleges and work harder than elsewhere.<\/p>\n Bristol City Council<\/a> has a legal duty to encourage and help young people aged 16 and 17 to take part in education or training. An update on the numbers of teenagers not in education, employment or training was given to councillors on the children and young people policy committee. Local firms were encouraged to \u201cstep up\u201d with work experience offers.<\/p>\n Jane Taylor, head of employment, skills and lifelong learning at the council, said: \u201cIt\u2019s a sizeable number of young people and we should be worried about that. It\u2019s a huge worry for them and their families, and it\u2019s a loss to the city and the economy.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got the perennial issue of transport in this city, which is expensive and inconsistent. Many young people lack the confidence to travel outside of their immediate locality. Work experience is really key, and we\u2019ve got a really important role here in the council to contribute to that and talk to other employers about showing them the way.\u201d<\/p>\n The Bristol Works Programme, run by the council, arranges work experience for young people in school who are at risk of ending up not in work, education or training. It aims to motivate young people to stay in school and do well too, with a taste of what good jobs can look like. And a new coaching pilot will launch this week, working with 15-year-olds who are skipping school.<\/p>\n But in some parts of the city, there are few job opportunities and travelling to other parts is hard. While a range of bus services have been invested in with more frequent buses, First Bus drivers are going on strike later this month for nine days in a dispute over pay. The lack of regulation and oversight of the buses in Bristol also leads to less reliable services than cities like London<\/a>.<\/p>\n Labour<\/a> Councillor Kerry Bailes said: \u201cWe fight to get our children a decent education. It costs us a lot of money, time and energy, and it\u2019s really draining. Then when they finally leave school, there\u2019s nothing. There\u2019s this big void, there\u2019s no jobs, there\u2019s a lack of opportunities.<\/p>\n \u201cEspecially in my ward [Hartcliffe and Withywood], you could have a really techy kid who doesn\u2019t quite fit in at school but tries their best. Then they get to 16 and 17 and you think what job is out there for this techy child? Where I live it\u2019s things like scaffolding.<\/p>\n \u201cFor a child to then go and find something techy that they enjoy, there\u2019s also a transport barrier. We might have improved the buses this year, but generally since my ward was built in the 1950s, we haven\u2019t had great bus services.\u201d<\/p>\n