King Colin: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKing Colin: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 06 March 2014. Volume:696;Page:16414. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]6.COLIN KING (National—Kaikōura) to theMinister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment: How is the Youth Guarantee Scheme helping the Government achieve the Better Public Services target of 85 percent of all 18-year-olds achieving NCEA Level two or an equivalent qualification in 2017? [Interruption]Mr SPEAKER: Order! I just might have to ask for the family discussion to cease. Thank you.Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Tertiary Education Skills and Employment): Ha ha! Last month I released the first Youth Guarantee monitoring report by the Ministry of Education. The report showed the real difference that the Youth Guarantee scheme is making to the achievement of at-risk young people. The report showed that in 2012 83 percent of 18-year-olds in Youth Guarantee secondary-tertiary programmes—including trades academies—achieved the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) at level 2 or equivalent compared with 70 percent of a similar group of young people who had not participated in trades academies. There has also been a similar improvement for students in Youth Guarantee fees-free courses in tertiary education. For 2012 62 percent of 18-year-olds in fees-free tertiary courseshad achieved NCEA level 2 or equivalent compared with 52 percent of a similar group who had not participated.Colin King: Why did the Government introduce the Youth Guarantee scheme?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: A level 2 qualification is enormously important. It gives young people opportunities for further education and employment and equips them for modern life. Frankly if they do not obtain at least a level 2 qualification it gets very challenging. The reality is that some students are more motivated to learn and pass qualifications away from a traditional school setting and if the Government does not provide opportunities for those people they simply leave school altogether with no qualifications at all—an outcome that would be bad for them bad for the Government and of course bad for New Zealand society. The recent monitoring report showed that because of Youth Guarantee around 1000 more young people remained in education at age 17 and many more of them achieved NCEA level 2.Colin King: How is the Youth Guarantee scheme being expanded in 2014?Hon STEVEN JOYCE: This year there will be around 10000 places for Youth Guarantee fees-free courses and another 4500 places in secondary-tertiary programmes. We are also expanding the Youth Guarantee scheme to 18 and 19-year-olds participating in fees-free tertiary qualifications at foundation levels. Because of Youth Guarantee trades academies and of course the new vocational pathways we are confident that every single teenager has a fees-free path to a level 3 qualification giving them access to training and skills. Last year I also announced that all fees-free level 1 and 2 education will be for 20 to 24-year-olds as well. That means anyone under the age of 25 who is yet to obtain a level 2 qualification will be able to obtain one fees-free whether that is at a secondary school or through Youth Guarantee or a tertiary provider such as a private training establishment or a polytechnic. This is a very significant commitment to the achievement of New Zealand’s young people.