Do you want me to start? I think, based on our own destination data, we don’t think that young people are taking other choices to any kind of level. I think, when you look at degree apprenticeships, for example, obviously they're in a limited number of sectors, and many degree apprentices already have employed status, so there aren't that many direct entry opportunities for young people. I think if you look at apprenticeship starts per se at foundation apprenticeships level 3 and higher level apprenticeships, that figure has been reasonably static, I would say, over the last five years. There was a bit of a spike in 2017-18, but it’s been reasonably static. So, we don’t think young people are going into other routes, particularly.
What we’ve noticed from our own destination data, and that obviously is destination data linked to years 11, 12, and 13—it doesn’t include FE students—we are finding that, actually, NEET figures are higher for year 13 students than they are for year 11. And we’re also finding that year 13 students are going directly into employment in far greater numbers than would be the case for year 11. Now, that might be an obvious trend, because obviously they’re two years older, they might be nearer to the labour market, but what we suspect is that, actually, more and more year 13 leavers are taking a job and almost deferring HE application or HE entry, and then not going back to it. And I think that what our careers advisers are telling us—and this is not data driven; it's fairly anecdotal—is that that is largely driven by cost. It's driven by the cost-of-living crisis over the last couple of years, parental influence, young people asking questions around value for money around HE: is it actually going to pay off in the long term? So, there are lots of issues around cost.
Also, there are regional differences. We know that. We know that more than 50 per cent of young people in Wales choose to stay in a Welsh university, and there are differences between applications in Cardiff and Vale, for example, and other parts of Wales. So, sometimes, if there isn’t a HEI on your doorstep, then young people are choosing not to take that route. So, I think that there are multiple factors, but I don’t see different routes as being the option.
The one other thing that I would say is that, again, if you look at our destination data, over the last few years, there has been a very, very slight increase in terms of FE progression, rather than staying in school sixth forms. So, I think that, at the minute, you have probably got 50-plus per cent of young people in FE, and about 30-32 per cent of young people doing A-levels. That means, of course, that more young people are doing vocational courses in FE and, while you can quite happily progress to HE from vocational courses, it’s probably not quite as linear as from A-level courses. So, there’s another possible link there.