WORK is being undertaken by West Dunbartonshire Council to address the drop in school leavers reaching a “positive destination” in 2019/20.

Records show that the percentage of young people going on to further or higher education, training, volunteer work, personal skills development activity or employment was 89.6 per cent, which is 3.7 per cent below the national figure and almost a 4 per cent decrease from West Dunbartonshire’s previous financial year.

A report on these figures was brought before the education committee last week.

Council leader Jonathan McColl said: “Obviously last year’s figures are concerning because there has been a significant drop in places that you wouldn’t expect to see.

“What work has been done or is planned in terms of making individual contact with people?

"We need to know what has happened here and why they haven’t ended up in a positive destination and why the action plan hasn’t been effective.”

A snapshot recorded in October last year revealed that most young people in a negative destination had not been in a positive destination since leaving school.

Council officer Andrew Brown said: “At two of our schools, half of the young people that ended up in a negative destination on October 6 had actually been in a positive destination before that but they haven’t sustained it.

“They have not been left to their own devices. They are being supported to help them move forward.”

Cllr McColl added: “It is good to hear that we are being proactive in terms of finding out what went wrong but most importantly working with the young people and Skills Development Scotland to ensure that those people are helped.

“We can’t let these young people be forgotten while we move on to the next year and I appreciate that.”