CYNNYDD

Monitoring & Evaluation Plan Evaluation Objectives The objectives behind the planned evaluation of the Cynnydd operation are:

To ensure that the Operation’s procedures and processes are fit for purpose prior to delivery commencing.

To ensure that resources are used as effectively and efficiently as possible in delivering the objectives of Cynnydd itself.

To capture learning from the operation that may be applied to future interventions for this target group.

Lessons Learned from Previous Projects Pembrokeshire County Council has been involved in a number of previous operations related to this target group. These include:

Engage (Convergence ESF, Lead Sponsor: Neath Port Talbot CBC; Joint Sponsors that are common to Cynnydd: Carmarthenshire CC, Ceredigion CC, City & County of Swansea, Coleg Ceredigion, Neath Port Talbot College, Pembrokeshire College, Gower College, Swansea)

Gypsy Traveller Learning and Future Employment Project (Convergence ESF, Lead Sponsor: Pembrokeshire CC; Joint Sponsors that are common to Cynnydd: Carmarthenshire CC, City & County of Swansea and Neath Port Talbot CBC)

European Commission Preparatory Action “Youth Guarantee” (Pembrokeshire CC)

Engage and the Pembrokeshire Youth Guarantee targeted both young people who were at risk of becoming NEET as well as those who were NEET. The Gypsy Traveller Learning and Future Employment Project, which was specifically for young people from that ethnic group, worked through schools and so was aimed at those currently in education, but was working with a group at significant risk of dropping out of education, particularly during the transition into secondary education and then tertiary education. Evaluations were carried out of all of these actions. That for Engage1 records that the project achieved all its targets and was also well regarded by participants, delivery staff, managerial representatives and other direct and indirect stakeholders. However, the project had a “stuttering start”, due to project delivery commencing before the appointment of core lead body staff. This had knock-on implications such as the need to revise monitoring systems and retrospective data capture. Similar issues arose with the Pembrokeshire Youth Guarantee, which was originally only a twelve month pilot and so needed to begin delivery quickly, and the Gypsy Traveller Learning and Future Employment Project2. This influenced our intention to take

1 http://gov.wales/docs/wefo/publications/evaluation/130211engageevaluationfinalen.pdf

2 http://gov.wales/docs/wefo/publications/130719gypsytravellerfinalevaluationsep2012en.pdf

advantage of the possibility of a mobilisation phase to ensure Cynnydd delivery starts only once all necessary preparations have been made. This will also help to tackle another difficulty highlighted by the Engage evaluation, namely the situation whereby outputs and results increase significantly in the last few months of a project as paperwork is completed as a project closes. This causes problems in providing on-going evaluation evidence to steer the direction of an operation during its delivery. For 2014-2020 this would also cause difficulties in claiming and so it is important that the issue is addressed during mobilisation. Data sharing protocols will also be developed at an early stage, as recommended by the Engage evaluators, to ensure data is transferred to the lead partner effectively and efficiently. Another recommendation from Engage related to the need to encourage networking across the delivery agents so as to ensure that good practice was shared whilst there was still time for that good practice to be replicated. Our governance arrangements include regular regional meetings, but we shall also encourage annual meetings of delivery staff, for instance through means of celebratory events. The Engage evaluators also recommended that the lead partner team should include people with experience of ESF delivery, so that discussions with WEFO can be informed by the practicalities involved in delivering this type of project. The Pembrokeshire CC European Unit includes staff who have this “hands-on” experience. The Engage evaluation called for consistent mechanisms for recording “soft outcomes” between partners. This is something that we accept and feel is important for this target group, however it will also be important for us to receive timely advice from WEFO on evaluation and monitoring – a further comment made by the Engage evaluators – if the mobilisation phase is to successfully completed. The Youth Guarantee evaluation added some further points. One was to ensure that budgets included all relevant costs but also that they needed to be contained within the likely funding envelope. We are aware that at the present time there is some work to do to fully address this point. The evaluation also noted that procured delivery had proved effective and efficient and should be employed in the future for this target group. The evaluation also stressed the importance of meeting social (and not just educational or employment) needs for this group. It is necessary to overcome participant’s social problems before higher level needs can be met3. In the special case of young people from the Gypsy Traveller community, the evidence is that it is very difficult to accurately predict targets due to the population’s inherent mobility. When attempting to do so, it’s also necessary to take into account the difference between Gypsy and Irish traveller populations with the latter being more reluctant to acknowledge any benefit from having an education. These populations are also very challenging to work with in terms of collecting participant data. This is likely to be even more of an issue in the 2014-2020 programme period

3 This is an implication of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

due to the increased monitoring requirements (and the linking of this to claim payment). Business planning for the Cynnydd Operation has benefitted significantly from the recent completion of the Pembrokeshire Youth Guarantee project, funded through the European Commission’s Directorate for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion’s “Preparatory Action on the Youth Guarantee”4. The proposal for a Pilot of the Youth Guarantee submitted to and selected by the Commission was for the provision of a Youth Guarantee Gateway for 15 to 25 year olds in Pembrokeshire. It aimed at assisting 80% of young people into employment, work-focused education or training within four months of leaving school/Further Education (FE) or becoming unemployed. The provision was structured into three separate Strands:

Strand A: 15 to 17 year olds participating in schools or FE provision (but at risk of becoming NEET)

Strand B: 16 to 17 year old NEETs

Strand C: 18 to 25 year old NEETs The project’s design was seen very much as a pilot to support the implementation of Welsh Government’s Youth Guarantee as offered through the YEPF. The project offered young people the following interventions delivered through a mixed economy of centrally delivered, and procured activities:

Personalised individual mentoring of young people

‘Bite-sized’ vocational tasters

Development of personal and social skills

Activities to better understand the world of work in the context of the local labour market

Employability skills

Digital capability and on-line recruitment

Work tasters, placements and clubs

Job broking

Employer events, visits and presentations

Links to business and industry

Career planning and progression

Entrepreneurship and enterprise

Money matters – financial independence

Introduction to training and learning options

Links to vocational learning, apprenticeships and mainstream employment programmes that support the journey into work

Issue based work

4 EVALUATION OF THE PEMBROKESHIRE YOUTH GUARANTEE 2015. Preparatory Action on the Youth

Guarantee, Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission

Application Reference: VP/2012/012/0418

Activities were brokered by through multi-agency working, with Strand A (the most applicable to the Cynnydd Operation) delivering a mixture of short duration, timely interventions linked to learner needs. Five beneficiary partners were successful in the tendering exercise, and activities were operational between October 2013 and September 2014. The Pilot successfully recruited 90 participants to Strand A, matching the target. Of these 51 (56.7%) were male and 39 (43.3%) female. The majority (60%) joined the Pilot when aged 15. A slightly smaller cohort joined aged 16 and only one male and one female joined the Pilot aged 17. The mean time participants spent on the Pilot was 15.6 hours. Of the 73 who subsequently left their education provision at the time of the project, only two were NEET after four months. Both of these were female. This is an impressive 97.3% achievement against the 80% target. A key success to the pilot was the offer of a variety of support and engagement activities to the vulnerable young person, which were centrally brokered. The involvement of employer engagement, “alternative curricula” and personalised information advice and guidance is supported by a variety of published sources5,6. The centrally controlled, institutional brokerage of services is a central pillar to the YEPF, and is also supported by published research7. The mixed economy of centrally delivered and procured services allowed for a beneficial breadth of service provision to the participants; each delivering organisation played to its strengths and there was no need for further capacity building or up-skilling. In this way, beneficiaries will capitalise on specialist knowledge of delivery partners, a key finding from the First Findings Report evaluation into the delivery of the Youth Guarantee8. Delivery was also flexible in nature, suiting the individual needs of the young people. We have also noted that Cynnydd bears similarities with the ‘Diritti a Scuola’ project (http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/en/projects/italy/tackling-school-drop-out-rates-and-improving-results) carried out in Perugia in Italy in the 2007-13 programme period. That project also used alternative curriculum approaches and combined this with counselling, educational and vocational guidance. It was also focused on young people with the most need. ‘Diritti a Scuola’ was awarded a RegioStar award in October 2015. Operational Context Analysis and evidence of context, policy and links to OP The Cynnydd Operation will align with the targeting principles and Specific Objectives of the West Wales & the Valleys ESF (2014 – 2020) Operation

5 Engaging the Disengaged, Kettlewell, K., Southcott, C., Stevens, E., McCrone, T. NFER Research Programme,

2012.

6 The Early Bird..Preventing young people from becoming a NEET statistic. Britton, J., Gregg, P., MacMillan, L.,

Mitchell, S. Department of Economics and CMPO, University of Bristol, 2011.

7 Hidden Talents II. Re-engaging young people, the local offer. The Local Government Association, 2013.

8 Preparatory Action on the Youth Guarantee. First Findings Report. Directorate-General for Employment,

Social Affairs & Inclusion, European Commission, 2014.

Programme Priority Axis 3 – Youth Employment and Attainment. It will specifically focus on Specific Objective 2: To reduce the number of those at risk of becoming NEET, amongst 11-24 year olds by targeting young people most at risk of disengaging from education and by association, at highest risk of becoming NEET. Cynnydd will provide a range of interventions which will complement and add value, but do not duplicate mainstream services managed by Engagement and Progression Co-ordinators (EPCs) in the delivery of the Youth Engagement & Progression Framework (YEPF) across the Local Authority areas of Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, Neath Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire and Swansea. Activities to be undertaken Cynnydd will systematically identify and track young people most at risk of disengaging from education, and by association most at risk of becoming NEET. It will support participants to become less vulnerable to disengaging from their education by providing:

access to a broader and innovative range of learning options supporting the acquisition of both vocational and higher level skills and prevent young people from “falling out” of education;

access to a range of opportunities to better equip the young people with a skill set that will allow them to be more flexible and adaptable in a fast changing labour market and to gain sustainable employment, encouraging linkages between career choices and longer term labour market trends and tackling traditional gender stereotypes in employment;

individual learner support (mentoring, coaching, counselling and advocacy where appropriate) to remove barriers to learning, and to help create learner confidence and independence in addition to learning- and work-readiness;

targeted support to enable successful transition between differing education Key Stages (KS2 into KS3, KS3 into KS4, KS4 into KS5 and into wider post-16 pathways)

Monitoring and Evaluation Structure Management Responsibility Responsibility for monitoring and evaluation of Cynnydd is set out in the diagram below.

Delivery Plan The delivery plan showing how we expect to perform against our various indicators over the duration of the operation may be found at Annex XX to the Business Plan. Monitoring Data Capture The first stage of the monitoring process will be to collect from participants before they are formally admitted to the operation sufficient data to verify eligibility. The four entry conditions to be satisfied and acceptable types of evidence to support this data are set out in the table below:

Operation Steering

Committee

Lead Beneficiary (Pembs CC)

Contracted Delivery

providers

Jt Beneficiary 1 Jt Beneficiary 2

etc.

Pembs CC European

Officer

ECMT Manager

P&Q and CCT Officer

Entry condition Acceptable evidence (only one item required from each list)

Eligible to access WW&V programme

National Insurance number, either the plastic card or letter from HMRC (you must have the right to work or study in the UK to get a National Insurance number).

Full passport (EU Member State)

Full passport (not EU Member State): o Passport either endorsed ‘indefinite leave to remain

– proceed’ (settled status) or includes work or residency permits or visa stamps (unexpired) and all related conditions met.

o Some non-EEA nationals may have an Identity Card issued by the Home Office in place of a visa, confirming the individual’s right to stay, work or study in the UK – these cards are acceptable.

Letter from the UK Immigration and Nationality Directorate granting ‘indefinite leave to remain’ (settled status).

Birth/ adoption certificate (EU Member State)

Residency permits for foreign nationals (usually in passport).

Marriage/ civil partnership certificate (if partner has legal right to live in the UK and this can be evidenced).

Address Home Address

Recent statement from bank/ building society/ credit card company/ credit union;;

Recent utility bill or council tax demand/ correspondence;

Evidence of registration on electoral roll;

Letter/ confirmation from home owner (family/ lodging);

Rent card/ statement;

Solicitors correspondence Study Address

Correspondence from institution.

Student ID card (if identifies name of institution).

Entry condition Acceptable evidence (only one item required from each list)

Age Birth certificate

Full driving licence (EU)

Full passport

National Identity Card (EU)

Firearms certificate / Shotgun licence (over 18s)

Northern Ireland Voters Card (over 17s)

Letter / confirmation from educational institution

At risk of NEET Red score on VAP

Score on FE Assessment Tool equivalent to red VAP score

Recent correspondence from educational institution justifying treatment as someone at risk of becoming NEET due to factors not recognized in VAP methodology.

Once eligibility has been verified but before enrolment the following data shown on the table at Appendix A is required to be collected. : The data to be collected cover a range of personal information (sex, age, labour status, level of education, etc.), including some variables that may be considered as “sensitive” (i.e. those related to disability, migrant or minority status, and/or other disadvantages). In line with Article 6 and 7 of the Directive 95/46 of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data, the ESF Regulation provides Member States with the legal basis to justify collection and processing of personal data for the purposes of monitoring and reporting on ESF funded actions. This means that all personal variables should be collected for all participants and the ESF Regulation foresees no scope for derogation in this respect. These are marked in the following table with an asterisk (*). If any or all of this data is refused enrolment must not take place. The only case where data may, under certain conditions, be incomplete is in relation to indicators dealing with variables considered as sensitive according to Article 8 of the Directive (i.e. those relating to disability, migrant/ethnic status and other disadvantage). For these sensitive variables, individuals have the right to refuse consent for the data to be collected, if indeed the data is collected based on the consent of individuals (Art. 8(2)(a) Data protection directive). These are marked in the following table with a double asterisk (**). If any or all of this data is refused enrolment may still take place but documentary evidence showing that an attempt to collect the information was made must be maintained. Appendix B identifies further data that must be captured as the participant continues on the operation, and when s/he leaves. Indicators The indicators to be used by this operation are:

Participants at Risk of becoming NEET (11-24 years of age)

Participants at risk of becoming NEET (11-24 years of age) gaining qualifications upon leaving

Participants at risk of becoming NEET (11-24 years of age) in education or training upon leaving

Participants at Risk of becoming NEET (11-24) at reduced risk of becoming NEET upon leaving

Targets Targets will be set against all of these targets (see Business Plan for details of the actual targets). Performance will be measured against these targets but also monitored against the following category breakdowns:

Gender

Disability

Work limiting health conditions

Migrants / BME / Minorities

Those with care and/or childcare responsibilities Monitoring System Monitoring will take place at two main levels within the Operation. Each joint beneficiary will capture monitoring data about the beneficiaries with which they deal. The joint beneficiary will be responsible for ensuring data is complete and accurate, including all category breakdown information. The second level of monitoring will take place at lead beneficiary level. This will be carried out by a full time Performance and Quality Monitoring and CCT Officer within the Unit’s European Contract Management Team (ECMT). Each participant will be issued with a unique identifier that will be used to identify related documents, files and database entries. They will also allow anonymised analysis of participant characteristics etc whilst maintaining a link back to original records in case of queries. It is our intention to establish a bespoke project database within the mobilisation stage, which will record participants’ data relating to their characteristics, progress made, courses undertaken, skills gained, qualifications obtained and distance travelled. This bespoke project database will be in place at the start of delivery which will enable the ECMT and the joint beneficiary delivery teams to have access to quality assured participant monitoring information. Input from our external evaluator, once appointed, and from WEFO RME will be welcomed as the database is developed to ensure that all demands for non-financial management information can be met. Data Quality The lead beneficiary’s Performance and Quality Monitoring and CCT Officer will pay regular visits to joint beneficiaries to review the operation of monitoring processes so as to provide assurance that data quality is being achieved and maintained. The lead and joint beneficiaries already have experience of the issues involved. One aspect that may cause specific issues is the capturing of information delivered by procured delivery partners. Here the procurement exercise will test tenderers’ experience and capability at monitoring for ESF or similar purposes, and this will form part of the basis of selection of successful contractors. Joint beneficiaries will be expected not to make payments to contractors unless they have satisfied themselves that monitoring data supplied in receipt of a claim for payment is complete and correct. The ECMT Performance and Quality Monitoring and CCT

Officer will visit a number of contracted delivery organizations over the course of the delivery of Cynnydd although it will be impractical for all to be visited. Those visited will be selected based on the volume of work carried out for the project and informed by any monitoring issues that come to light. Reporting Arrangements The database will be fundamental to the production of management reports required by the Operation Steering Committee and lead beneficiary, joint beneficiaries, WEFO, the external evaluator and other stakeholders. This data will also inform reports that it is anticipated will be required by the Swansea City Region Board, the Growing Mid Wales Partnership, the South West Local Authority Regional Directors, and possibly by the Haven Waterway Enterprise Zone and the Teifi Valley Local Growth Zone. Progress in achieving output and result indicators will be reported to WEFO with the quarterly claims and monitored against the Cynnydd Delivery Profile (Annex XX). Pembrokeshire County Council will have lead responsibility for this and officers within its European Unit already have substantial experience of reporting project data to WEFO and using WEFO Online systems. We shall comply with all WEFO requirements in relation to this process. Additional Monitoring Information The most important additional monitoring required will be use of a distance travelled tool (also known as the Self Efficacy Tool or SET) that will be fundamental to tracking progress of individual beneficiaries. Its importance demands that it be described here. This SET will be completed by the young person as they start and complete their engagement with the Operation; it is also anticipated that if young people are engaged with the Operation for more than 6 months that they will complete the SET on an interim (quarterly) basis. In addition, the learner’s vulnerability might also be capable of being indicated and tracked by data captured by the VAP e.g. attendance, behaviour, exclusions, though it must be stressed that the VAP is not designed or intended as a tracking tool.

Indicators used within the SET to identify participants that are at lesser risk of becoming NEET will be in three areas, attendance, behaviour and attainment: Attendance: Measured at start and end of intervention Behaviour:

Number of exclusions

Number of exclusion days

Either a reduction in the rate of either or, no worsening of exclusions

Attainment: Key stage 3:

Reading and Numeracy Test scores (comparison year on year)

Gaining 1 or more DAQW qualification directly through the Operation (where appropriate)

Key Stage 4:

Attaining Level 1 or L2i; Capped wider points (WBQ “included” and capped 9 from 2017)

Gaining 1 or more DAQW qualification directly through the Operation

Post 16:

Successful completion of Learning Area Programme

Re-tiering from Tier 4 into Tier 5 We also anticipate a need to monitor performance of our contracted delivery organisations. This process will follow Pembrokeshire CC’s established processes for contract management. Evaluation Questions The operation is to be evaluated in three phases, firstly at inception, then at a suitable mid-term point and finally after delivery has completed. The evaluation questions posed will differ at each point. At Inception the evaluator will be asked:

Whether the monitoring data obtained from the operation’s monitoring systems and processes will be of sufficient quality, timeliness and completeness to support meaningful evaluation results using the proposed evaluation methodology.

At mid-term (formative)

Whether the operation’s administrative (to include monitoring, financial etc) processes are effective supporting delivery of the operation.

Whether relationships between lead and joint beneficiaries, and with procured training providers are conducive to the effective delivery of the operation.

Whether, based on performance to date and any other relevant information, the indicator targets are likely to be met both in total and at individual beneficiary level.

Whether, based on performance to date and any other relevant information, any variances should be anticipated in the operation’s spend against its budget by the end of the operation.

How the operation is perceived by stakeholders, with especial attention to the views of present and past participants and front-line staff.

Whether the operation is making the contribution to the cross-cutting themes it intended, particularly the themes of tackling poverty and equal opportunities.

The final (summative) evaluation will revisit the questions posed in the mid-term evaluation but from a retrospective viewpoint. However the key question will be:

To what extent have participants’ risk of becoming NEET changed as a result of the operation’s interventions?

It is anticipated that to answer this question an appropriate counterfactual impact evaluation methodology will be employed. Therefore monitoring systems and previous evaluation work must be designed to provide the quality of data required to make the CIE results robust. However we shall also be interested in qualitative assessments from the participants of where they expect life to take them as they leave the operation, compared to how they saw their situation at enrolment. Potential use of Evaluation We expect the Inception Report to inform the development of the monitoring system and to provide assurance that before the operation starts it is capable of delivering the quality and depth of data required to support both operation management and later evaluation. We expect the formative evaluation to provide important insights into the way the operation functions. These will be used to adjust any part of the operation where performance is sub-optimal, or where future risks are identified that are capable of immediate mitigation. The summative evaluation will be used to inform future operations for this client group, whether EU funded or not. This use will extend beyond the lead beneficiary and apply to all the joint beneficiaries, and we hope to our procured providers as well as organisations that were not associated with Cynnydd in any way. External / Internal The partnership behind Cynnydd recognises the necessity to thoroughly evaluate operations such as this and therefore it is our intention to procure during the mobilisation stage an experienced external evaluator to work with us throughout the life of the operation. This will help to ensure that the evaluation of the operation is carried out independently. It will also bring skills to the evaluation that we do not possess in-house. Indicative Timetable Evaluation of the operation will take place in three phases: inception, formative and summative. It is expected that the Inception Report will be available within one month of the mobilisation phase ending. The evaluator will then be expected to deliver a formative evaluation twelve or fifteen months after the mobilisation phase ending. The final summative evaluation is to be published during the closure period. Resources A budget of £35,000 has been included for an external evaluator. Contract Management The contract for Cynnydd’s evaluation will be managed by Pembrokeshire County Council’s European Unit, which has developed considerable experience of managing

the evaluation of EU funded projects and programmes. This will be the responsibility of the European Contract Management Team’s Cynnydd Contract Manager. Contract management will be undertaken in line with Pembrokeshire County Council’s Contract Management Process, set out in Procurement Procedure Note 01/2007. Essentially, contract management comprises management of process, people and performance: Process – What the Contract Manager does

- ensuring the contract gets off to a good start - maintaining control throughout the contract - reviewing the contract at the end

People – How the Contract Manager does it

- building and developing relationships - managing change - resolving disputes

Performance – Getting the best out of the Contractor

- day to day administration - measuring performance - controlling spend - understanding the contract conditions

Contract management arrangements will include:

Meetings with the evaluator at inception, mid-term and final report stages;

Regular written updates to be provided by the evaluator to the contract manager, dates to be agreed at inception;

Periodic telephone and email contact between the Contract Manager and evaluator;

Review of all evaluation outputs (e.g. reports) to ensure accuracy Dissemination

Evaluation findings and recommendations will be reported to the Operation Steering Group. They will decide whether recommendations will be accepted and if so, what action should be taken to address them. The action to be taken will then be implemented though the Operation Lead Manager and lead beneficiary’s ECMT Manager, as appropriate. Evaluation findings will be disseminated to other interested groups:

WEFO: a copy of all evaluation reports in draft form will be provided to our WEFO PDO for comment. After the report is finalised a copy will be provided to the WEFO PDO.

The Welsh Government (Department for Education and Skills) both at a Ministerial and official level.

Beneficiary organisations’ boards of management. These will differ from organisation to organisation but will include for FE Institutions the Boards of Governors and Principals, and for local authorities elected Members, especially those holding relevant Cabinet portfolios and positions on relevant Scrutiny Committees, and Chief Officers.

Operation staff.

Cynnydd’s contracted delivery organisations and other organisations or groups working with young people at risk of becoming NEET.

The European Commission (DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion).

The OECD. Evaluation reports will be published on the lead beneficiary’s website and joint beneficiaries will be encouraged to do likewise. Should the evaluator ask for permission to publish any of the evaluation reports this will be granted.

Appendix A Data to be collected after eligibility checks, but prior to enrolment

Category Criteria Guidance

Identifier Participant ID Free This is a unique identifier which as an operation you use to identify a participant. It must be unique for

all participants in your operation.

National Insurance number

XX ## ## ## X

Unique learner number

XXXXXXXXXX

Contact details Title Free Surname Free First Name(s) Free Address line 1 Free

This is the home address of the Participant on date of entry into the intervention. Address line 2 Free

Town/City Free

Unitary Authority

This is either the Welsh Unitary Authority Area of the participant on date of entry into the operation or “Outside of Wales”.

Postcode XX###XX Contact purposes and to confirm location. This field will be used to calculate if a participant is from a

rural location.

Preferred language for communication

Welsh; English In order to assess the lasting effects of Structural Funds WEFO will need to carry out research. For the purpose of this research WEFO may need to contact Participants.

Contact telephone number

Number Number including area code

Category Criteria Guidance

Alternative contact telephone number

Number Alternative number: for example, mobile number

Email address Free Demographic / characteristics Date of birth* dd/mm/yyyy Used to calculated age at start of project.

Gender* Male; Female EC guidance states that the gender of all participants should be recorded when they start on an operation. The term “sex" refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women while the term “gender” refers to the social representation of male and female attributes. Given that for some people the issue of gender is sensitive, for the purposes of ESF monitoring it is recommended that: - in cases where information is collected directly from participants the gender identity of participants should be recorded (i.e. the sex/gender that the participant wishes to be identified with); - in cases where information is taken from registers the existing records can be used without further enquiry.

Black or Minority Ethnic background**

Yes; No; Information Refused

Ethnic origin questions are not about nationality, place of birth or citizenship. They are about broad ethnic groups. Black and Minority Ethnic groups include people who may face barriers because of their ethnic origin, in accessing opportunities in Wales. Ethnicity** Free

At risk of becoming NEET

Yes Risk of NEET (11-24) – means individuals 11-24 in education or training who are at risk of dis-engagement or at risk of becoming NEET upon leaving.

Category Criteria Guidance

Existing Qualification Level*

None; Below CQFW level 1; CQFW level 1; CQFW level 2; CQFW level 3; CQFW level 4; CQFW level 5; CQFW level 6; CQFW level 7; or CQFW level 8

A qualification would be defined as being with the Credit and Qualification Framework for Wales (CQFW).

Single adult household*

Yes; No A single adult household is where the household includes only one adult (individual aged 18 or above), irrespective of their employment status.

Jobless Household*

Yes; No A Jobless household is where no household member is in employment, i.e. all members are either unemployed or inactive, including full time education or training. Note: the indicator refers to all household members irrespective of age so that a young unemployed participant living with retired grandparents would be counted as living in a jobless household.

Dependant children*

Yes; No One or more dependent child/children, which means individuals aged 0-17 years or 18-24 years if inactive and living with at least one parent. The latter category of older dependent children excludes people who are unemployed (because they are economically active) but includes full-time students.

Category Criteria Guidance

Homeless or affected by housing exclusion

Yes; No A person is homeless if there is no accommodation available for the person’s occupation, in the United Kingdom or elsewhere, which the person— .

is entitled to occupy by virtue of an interest in it or by virtue of an order of a court, .

has an express or implied licence to occupy, or .

occupies as a residence by virtue of any enactment or rule of law giving the person the right to remain in occupation or restricting the right of another person to recover possession.

A person is also homeless if the person has accommodation but— .

cannot secure entry to it, or .

it consists of a moveable structure, vehicle or vessel designed or adapted for human habitation and there is no place where the person is entitled or permitted both to place it and to reside in it. .

A person is not to be treated as having accommodation unless it is accommodation which it would be reasonable for the person to continue to occupy. A person is threatened with homelessness if it is likely that the person will become homeless within 56 days.

Migrant Status**

Yes – EU; Yes - non-EU; No; Information refused

A migrant is classed as a person who has changed their country of residence for a period of at least a year to the UK, but is not a citizen of the UK.

Work limiting health condition

Yes; No; Information refused

This should be self-reported by the participant. That is, participants should be asked whether they face barriers to employment due to a work limiting health condition.

Category Criteria Guidance

Disability** Yes; No; Information refused

The Social Model of Disability recognises that disabled people are people with impairments who are disabled by their environment. This Model is recognised by disabled people and was formally adopted by the Welsh Government in 2002. The Social Model of Disability makes the important difference between ‘impairment’ and ‘disability’. It recognises that people with impairments are disabled by the barriers that commonly exist in a society. In simple terms, it is not the inability to walk that prevents a person entering a building unaided but the existence of stairs that are inaccessible to a wheelchair-user. In other words, 'disability' is socially constructed. The Social Model of Disability requires society to remove the barriers in order that all people have equality. Further information can be found at http://www.disabilitywales.org/

Care or childcare responsibilities

None; Primary carer of a child/children (under 18); Primary carer of disabled adult (18 and over); or Primary carer of older person/people (65 and over)

A carer is anyone who cares, unpaid, for a friend or family member who due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction cannot cope without their support (Carers Trust http://www.carers.org/what-carer).

Childcare: An individual with childcare responsibilities is the primary carer (parent or guardian) for a child who is under 16.

Understand Welsh

Yes; No This criterion is about whether a Participant understands Welsh and is exclusive from the language criteria below, which are about use of Welsh.

Speak Welsh Yes; No Read Welsh Yes; No Write Welsh Yes; No

Category Criteria Guidance

Activity indicators

Course Title Free This should be a course title or alternative name by which the participant will recognise the project. If the participant is contacted as part of future project or programme level evaluation, this field should increase the chances of the participant remembering the project, which should lead to better response rates and therefore better quality evaluations.

Start date dd/mm/yyyy This should be the start date of the participant’s engagement with the intervention, e.g. training, and does not include the date of enrolment or registration prior to start of training.

Specific Objective

SO#.# This is the Specific Objective of the Structural Funds Operation/project.

Beneficiary Free cell Business Party Name of the organization responsible for managing/providing the intervention. This will be Pembrokeshire County Council if it is the lead beneficiary, or the name of the joint beneficiary concerned. Names of contractors must not be inserted here.

Appendix B Data to be collected during delivery and on participant leaving

Category Criteria Guidance

Identifier

Participant ID Free As allocated on enrolment. Will not change in any circumstances. Contact details

Title Free

To be updated if they change during the time the participant is on the operation, but details as at enrolment must be retained and not overwritten.

Surname Free

First Name(s) Free

Address line 1 Free

Address line 2 Free

Town/City Free

Unitary Authority

Postcode Contact telephone number

Number To be updated if they change during the time the participant is on the operation. Details as at enrolment may be overwritten.

Alternative contact telephone number

Number

Email address Free Activity indicators

Completion date dd/MM/yyyy This should be the date that the Participant completes their engagement with the intervention, be this completion or early departure, and does not include time elapsed before a qualification is granted.

Early Leaver Yes; No This is whether or not the Participant finished their engagement with the intervention prior to when planned.

Received provision in Welsh?

Yes – fully; Yes – partially; No

That is, was the intervention delivered to the Participant through the medium of Welsh? Partially refers to situations such as a training course being delivered by two trainers and only one of the trainers engages with the Participant in Welsh, or where trainers are engaging in Welsh but course material is in English.

Category Criteria Guidance

Job searching upon leaving

Yes; No Applicable to Economically Inactive participants. "Engaged in job searching" is to be understood as persons usually without work, available for work and actively seeking work as defined in the employment status, "Unemployed" above. "Upon leaving" is to be understood as up to four weeks after the exit date of the participant.

Entering education/training upon leaving

Yes; No Persons who have received ESF support and who are newly engaged in education (lifelong learning, formal education) or training activities (off-the-job/in-the-job training, vocational training, etc.) immediately upon leaving the ESF operation. "Upon leaving" is to be understood as up to four weeks after the exit date of the participant.

Qualification gained upon leaving

Yes - Below CQFW level 1; Yes - CQFW level 1; Yes - CQFW level 2; Yes - CQFW level 3; Yes - CQFW

Participants who gained a qualification upon leaving the ESF operation. Only qualifications which have been achieved as a result of an ESF intervention should be reported. The highest level of qualification should be reported i.e. a person should be counted once per operation. A qualification would be defined as being with the Credit and Qualification Framework for Wales (CQFW). There are three pillars of learning within the CQFW. "Upon leaving" is to be understood as up to four weeks after the exit date of the participant.

Category Criteria Guidance

Qualification gained upon leaving

Yes - Below CQFW level 1; Yes - CQFW level 1; Yes - CQFW level 2; Yes - CQFW level 3; Yes - CQFW level 4; Yes - CQFW level 5; Yes - CQFW level 6; Yes - CQFW level 7; Yes - CQFW level 8; or No

Participants who gained a qualification upon leaving the ESF operation. Only qualifications which have been achieved as a result of an ESF intervention should be reported. The highest level of qualification should be reported i.e. a person should be counted once per operation. A qualification would be defined as being with the Credit and Qualification Framework for Wales (CQFW). There are three pillars of learning within the CQFW. "Upon leaving" is to be understood as up to four weeks after the exit date of the participant.

Entered employment, including self-employment, upon leaving

Yes; No "In employment, including self-employment" is defined as in the definition of the employment status, "Employed, including self-employed" above. "Upon leaving" is to be understood as up to four weeks after the exit date of the participant.

At reduced risk of becoming NEET

Yes; No A measurable reduction in risk of becoming NEET upon leaving the operation which has been identified using the system set out in the business plan.

Category Criteria Guidance

In employment, including self employment six months after leaving

Yes; No "In employment, including self-employment" is defined as in the definition of the employment status, "Employed, including self-employed" above.

Results

For each participant, the following must be documented:

Requirement Recommended Evidence

Evidence of need for the intervention; Participant assessment and action plan

Evidence of the nature of the support provided; Course outlines. If procured the tender submission setting out what would be delivered.

Evidence that the supported activities related to the participant’s documented needs;

Dated, written explanation prepared after assessment but before intervention delivery setting out the link between the assessment of need and the proposed intervention. To be prepared by an appropriately trained professional.

Evidence that the support has been provided Attendance registers, sign-in sheets, completion certificates

An explanations how the support provided related to the objective of the operation;

Written evidence demonstrating that the type of intervention delivered/proposed can have the effect of reducing the risk of a participant in that activity of becoming NEET.

Evidence of the outcome of the intervention Use of distance travelled tool. Other verifiable evidence showing change in behaviour, attitude etc.