These are as follows, in alphabetical order:

There is a persistent problem of too many young people not having sufficient literacy and numeracy skills to function effectively in the workplace. Public agencies should consider how it can best address the short to medium term challenge such as supporting those young people who have already left school as well as the issue of working with schools to ensure these issues are tackled in a school environment. The methods to address this issue are complicated by a duplication of schemes designed to address this problem. The issue of basic skills training should be linked to direct job opportunities and should not be seen in isolation;

The careers advice that young people receive, all too often, do not take into consideration the needs of employers to recruit high value, highly skilled workers. Therefore there is a need to improve the range of advice that is offered, including offering vocational and educational opportunities;

Enterprise training should be offered as a career choice for young people in schools and colleges. We should seek ways to develop enterprise training as an aspect of the curriculum, including the vocational curriculum. This would help to address the low level of business start-ups in the region;

This is a critical issue for the future competitiveness of businesses in a challenging and fast changing market. There is also the need to address the lack of skilled managers in the region with the related issue of a lack of attention in focusing support on ensuring people gain at least NVQ3 standard. There is a need for bespoke training programmes to address different age groups.