Ms Caroline Redpath:

I want to say a couple of things about third level education. Ms Gildernew spoke about the issue of transport. One of the recommendations made in our report related to the introduction of the iLink card. Other recommendations focused on young people in rural areas and the need to examine how local transport systems can be better integrated with Translink services. We recommended that no young person should live more than two miles from a bus stop. We said that cycling would help young people to be fitter and healthier. Young people have pointed out that safer roads are needed in that context. We are working with the Consumer Council for Northern Ireland to implement a number of our recommendations. We would be keen to get the support of this committee to help that process.

We can work on a number of aspects of the issue of mental health and young people. I refer to the school curriculum, for example. We need to put more pressure on the formal education sector to educate young people about positive mental health, with specific regard to the things young people can do for themselves to ensure they have positive mental health. There should be a particular focus on the activities young people are involved in and on their relationships. We have recently been involved in a couple of initiatives that have focused on the use by young people of social media such as text messaging. When young people become engaged with our programmes, we get their consent to send a positive mental health message to them. We do that on a regular basis. The message could say something as simple as "do something for yourself today". It could be a nice thought about something. We are trying to help young people think about the small things they can do for themselves and about how they engage in their activities and relationships.

I would like to conclude by speaking about third level education. I have already spoken about our apprenticeship programme. The level 3 diploma in youth work that our young people complete is recognised by the University of Ulster. It gives them access to the community youth degree programme. Our work in this area focuses on young people who have not achieved what they might have needed from the formal education system. We try to develop their capacity to get higher education places, which might be limited for a number of reasons. While qualifications are important, we often have to start by developing people's confidence in their ability to access third level education. Many of them are in the first generation of their families to go to university. Their families would not have had a history of going to university. That has been our particular focus in terms of third level education. Obviously, the number of places available to young people is a key issue, particularly in light of budget reductions. We have been campaigning on that issue with a focus on young people who leave the education system without many qualifications. There is a large gap between young people who do well and achieve brilliant things and those who are not in employment, education or training and have a low level of qualifications.