Skills London 2008 – The UK’s biggest careers event for 14 - 19 year olds from creative to healthcare, construction to retail and engineering to hospitality will be at ExCeL London on 20 – 22 November 2008. Click here to book a young person or group of young people to attend the event and to find out further information.

Job Information Sheets - November's edition has now been uploaded onto the CLC website. Check out what jobs are available for young people.

Give it a GO! Try before you decide - Lewisham college are holding a taster day so that young people can see what they like before they decide what they want to do. They can taste Construction, Catering, Drama, Dance, Sports and more. To read more and for contact details click here. 

New Fashion Design Course – Newham College, in association with the Fashion & Textile Museum, is launching two brand new fashion design courses. For further information or to enrol, please call 020 8257 4000 or email admissions@newham.ac.uk

Moderated Chat Room on Connexions Direct – The new chat room on Connexions Direct is really easy to use, you just need to log on to connexions-direct.com, click on the chat room icon then fill out a registration form.  When the room is open, you can chat with other young people as well as a CXD expert on the topic of the day. The one-hour live chats cover a wide range of topics and there will be many taking place over the next few months. Have a look at the website to find out more.

Future Morph – The Science Council has produced a web-based resource that aims to encourage more young people to study STEM subjects that will enable them to take up careers, not only in science, technology, engineering, mathematics and medicine but also in diverse fields such as finance, fashion and food.

Events course – The Skills for Jobs training programme runs over a six week period and involves training in all different areas of the events industry, including customer care, understanding the industry, communication techniques and interpersonal skills. Call 0845 650 42 44 quoting Skills for Jobs or email info@cipsonline.com, for more information.

The young woman’s guide to pregnancy – Tommy’s the baby charity has produced a new free booklet specifically for pregnant teenagers. It provides sound advice to help young mums-to-be keep their unborn babies as healthy as possible and features real life experiences and common questions asked of midwives. Order your copy online.

Photo competition from the British Youth Council – SnapShot 60 is a brand new photo competition from the British Youth Council. It is open to anyone in the UK aged 26 and under and is their chance to be heard through photography. The top prize is the opportunity to visit or take up a work experience placement with one of the UK’s biggest style magazines.

Government doubles Apprenticeships commitment – Ministers have called for urgent action from the public sector to increase apprenticeship numbers during the global downturn. They argue that this is key if more people are to get the jobs they want in tougher times. To read more visit the website, where you wil need to register.

Student Finance England - Student Finance Direct will be renamed Student Finance England in autumn 2008. Student Finance England will help new students work out the financial support they'll get, apply for finance and keep track of their payments. To read more click here.

New guide for professionals tackling substance misuse among young people – DrugScope has published The Essential Guide to Working with Young People about Drugs and Alcohol. The guide is aimed at a broad range of professionals who work with young people who are misusing drugs and alcohol or who are at risk of doing so, including teachers, youth workers and Connexions personal advisers.

Old enough to make a mark? The Youth Citizenship Commission is consulting on the minimum age for elections in the UK. The consultation paper seeks evidence and views on whether the voting age should be lowered to 16. The deadline for responses is 20 January 2009.

The DCSF is about to commission a study into how young people in year 7 are starting to form their views about their future educational and careers options. Young people in year 7 during 2008-09 are the first cohort that will be required to participate under the Raising Participation Age (RPA) arrangements in 2013. This research will involve exploring their decision making process and what the key influencing factors are on them.

Social networking and youth participation – The LGiU's Children's Services Network will run an Action Learning Set between December 2008 and June 2009 for local authorities, voluntary sector organisations and the private sector. It will explore how local government can harness the potential of social networking sites to promote youth participation in the democratic process and in the delivery of children's services. The project will encourage local authorities to work with other public, private and third sector service providers to develop their capacity and commitment to engaging with young people through social networking.

Alcohol and young people – Drinking, you and your mates: how does your night end? The Department of Health has produced a new leaflet for young drinkers. This leaflet will help young people make choices about how much they drink and inform them on all they need to know about alcohol and drinking.

Sexual Health amongst young people – The Scout Association has launched new guidance to promote good sexual health amongst young people. The new guidance focuses on helping young people develop the confidence, maturity and self-esteem to resist peer pressure to be sexually active until they are ready to make safe and informed decisions.

The Young Muslim Advisory Group – Communities Secretary Hazel Blears and Children and Families Secretary Ed Balls have launched a new Young Muslim Advisory Group. The group will work directly with Government to help deepen its engagement with young Muslims. Find out more here.

The Centre for Excellence and Outcomes in Children and Young People's Services (C4EO) website contains valuable resources for updates in the early years and youth sector. To sign up for updates and find out more please visit their website.

YoMo: Practical Resources for Youth Participation – YoMo is a social enterprise that designs training programmes and resources to support the development of young people through their active community participation. They have recently updated their website and have a variety of resources on youth participation.

Eurodesk – The October edition of Eurodesk is now available on their website, with useful information, opportunities and activities from across Europe.

vinspired new ‘Favours’ campaign – A new ‘Favours’ campaign has been launched by vinspired and is designed to transform the face of volunteering among 16-25s. When this age group were asked in a survey if they liked the idea of volunteering, 66% of them said the term was off-putting. When asked if they’ve done someone a favour outside their family or friends, 80% said they had. vinspired.com’s  aim is to show people that volunteering is as easy and accessible as doing someone a favour, by using language that 16-25s can relate to. Read more about the campaign here.

Central London Connexions Team - A completed list of all CLC staff roles and responsibilities has been produced in order for you to identify who to contact when you have a query.

Aiming High for young people – The DCSF has published an updated version of the Aiming High Implementation Plan. The new plan sets out the progress so far and highlights the key actions for the next 12 months.  I&DeA has also published an easy-to-read information guide about the basics of Aiming High.

Delivery 14-19 Reform: Next steps – The DCSF has published Delivering 14-19 Reform: Next Steps. It presents a clear picture of the overall 14 to 19 reform programme in terms of progress to date, further developments since 2005 and wider objectives for every child aged 0 to 19 and beyond as set out in the Children’s Plan.

Local Area Agreements – The Partnerships and Places Library from I&DeA now allows you to search by performance indicator. This includes NI 117 16 to 18 year olds who are not in education, training or employment (NEET) PSA 14.

Tackling underachievement in young people – A new report by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has warned that Britain’s failure to get young people into work not only damages young people themselves, but also has a detrimental effect on the British economy and society as a whole.

Ofsted is conducting two surveys of particular relevance to the CEIAG community this year - one on Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) and the other on Economic Wellbeing. Field work visits to local authorities and a range of providers are taking place during autumn 2008 and spring 2009.

Children and Young Person's Bill is passed – The Children and Young Persons Bill had its third reading in the House of Commons on 8th October, during which MPs debated several significant amendments. To read the article or the bill click here.

Child poverty is costing the UK billions – New research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimates that child poverty costs at least £25 billion each year in losses to the Exchequer and in reduced GDP.

Lord Young announces deal to up-skill workers in housing and fashion – Skills Minister Lord Young has announced a new three-year agreement between the Government and employers will deliver more skilled workers to do the jobs of the future in housing, facilities management, fashion and textiles. If you would liek to read more information then please visit the website, where you will need to register.

NEET Flexible Provision Toolkit – A publication by the DCSF Using flexible provision to meet the needs of young people Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) has been published. This document is part of a number of materials supporting partners working to achieve better outcomes for young people who are NEET.

Information sharing – The DCSF recently published a new set of protocols for sharing information in the children's workforce.

Emerging themes in integrated working – where are we now? CWDC has recently completed the second annual evaluation measuring progress towards implementing integrated working. This year the evaluation was an online questionnaire which allowed local areas to self-assess their progress and provide an overview locally and nationally across nine sectors of the children's workforce.

Locking up or giving up? A report by Barnardo’s calls for a change in sentencing thresholds so that a child under 15 cannot be sent to custody unless they have committed ‘grave’ crimes or violent offences.

Central London Connexions Team - A completed list of all CLC staff roles and responsibilities has been produced in order for you to identify who to contact when you have a query.

Aiming High for young people – The DCSF has published an updated version of the Aiming High Implementation Plan. The new plan sets out the progress so far and highlights the key actions for the next 12 months.  I&DeA has also published an easy-to-read information guide about the basics of Aiming High.

Delivery 14-19 Reform: Next steps – The DCSF has published Delivering 14-19 Reform: Next Steps. It presents a clear picture of the overall 14 to 19 reform programme in terms of progress to date, further developments since 2005 and wider objectives for every child aged 0 to 19 and beyond as set out in the Children’s Plan.

Local Area Agreements – The Partnerships and Places Library from I&DeA now allows you to search by performance indicator. This includes NI 117 16 to 18 year olds who are not in education, training or employment (NEET) PSA 14.

Tackling underachievement in young people – A new report by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has warned that Britain’s failure to get young people into work not only damages young people themselves, but also has a detrimental effect on the British economy and society as a whole.

Ofsted is conducting two surveys of particular relevance to the CEIAG community this year - one on Information, Advice and Guidance (IAG) and the other on Economic Wellbeing. Field work visits to local authorities and a range of providers are taking place during autumn 2008 and spring 2009.

Children and Young Person's Bill is passed – The Children and Young Persons Bill had its third reading in the House of Commons on 8th October, during which MPs debated several significant amendments. To read the article or the bill click here.

Child poverty is costing the UK billions – New research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation estimates that child poverty costs at least £25 billion each year in losses to the Exchequer and in reduced GDP.

Lord Young announces deal to up-skill workers in housing and fashion – Skills Minister Lord Young has announced a new three-year agreement between the Government and employers will deliver more skilled workers to do the jobs of the future in housing, facilities management, fashion and textiles. If you would liek to read more information then please visit the website, where you will need to register.

NEET Flexible Provision Toolkit – A publication by the DCSF Using flexible provision to meet the needs of young people Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) has been published. This document is part of a number of materials supporting partners working to achieve better outcomes for young people who are NEET.

Information sharing – The DCSF recently published a new set of protocols for sharing information in the children's workforce.

Emerging themes in integrated working – where are we now? CWDC has recently completed the second annual evaluation measuring progress towards implementing integrated working. This year the evaluation was an online questionnaire which allowed local areas to self-assess their progress and provide an overview locally and nationally across nine sectors of the children's workforce.

Locking up or giving up? A report by Barnardo’s calls for a change in sentencing thresholds so that a child under 15 cannot be sent to custody unless they have committed ‘grave’ crimes or violent offences.

Information Day - places are still left on this training taking place on 13th November for one day at Friends House. If you want to develop and improve your skills on Working with Parents and Carers, Eating Disorders or Working with Young People, then book online. Or for more information on how to book your place, contact Eleaine Levi on 020 938 8080.

Learning Difficulties and Disabilities (LDD) - this one day training course will help you to work more effectively with young people who have learning difficulties or disabilities. If this is something you are interested in then book your place by logging on at www.centrallondonconnexions.org.uk with your username and password. If you do not have login details or have forgotten them, please email CLCTraining@rbkc.gov.uk.

Inclusive Volunteering: Breaking down the barriers – This national conference, organised by Rainer Crime Concern will examine the challenges and opportunities for inclusive volunteering, asking how we can breakdown barriers and widen volunteering opportunities for all. It will take place on 11 November 2008 in London.

Back from the brink: Turning young people away from crime – Nacro’s annual conference will examine how to pull young people back from the brink of criminality. The event will hear from policy and front line perspectives and from young people themselves. It will take place on 13 November in London and will cost £72.25 for delegates from the statutory sector.

Design, Develop, Deliver - Young Leaders in Practice Conference – Organised by Participation Works this conference is a unique opportunity to find out more about children and young people's empowerment and leadership. It will take place on 13 November in London and will cost £176.25 for voluntary sector organisations and £217.38 for statutory sector organisations.

Children and Young People's Health and Wellbeing Conference – The inaugural Children and Young People Now conference on children’s health looks beyond the theory to provide you with practical ways of implementing strategies to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people. It will cost from £249 - £429+VAT and will take place in London on 17 November 2008.

A one-day conference on the role of Personal Advisers in welfare and related services – This important conference will explore a new model of public service professional: the personal adviser. It will review the changing role of frontline staff – personal advisers and intermediaries from the public, private and voluntary sector – in welfare-to-work and related services. It will take place in London on 19 November and will cost £250+VAT for local authorities.

Who's Afraid Of Children's Rights? The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child issues its five-yearly report on the UK in October. Join the Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) to discuss the UN's recommendations, the threats and opportunities ahead and forthcoming campaigns. This event will take place in Kennington on 20 November 2008.

Playing Out: outdoor places = playable spaces? London Play's annual conference and AGM will include speakers and workshops with views on the shrinking outdoors; park play; and opening up school grounds for play. This event will take place on 20 November 2008 in London.

New generation, new media, new challenge! A groundbreaking conference, organised by 4Children and in partnership with Opportunity Links, looking at engaging young people through new media and how this can be used within local authorities to meet and exceed statutory targets. This event will take place in London on 27 November 2008.

Youth Act: Active Citizenship Training – This is a one day training course from the Citizenship Foundation for adults who have the remit to engage and involve young people in active citizenship projects in their local settings. It will take place on 8 December and will cost £150+VAT.

CHIPS is the outreach team for ChildLine. They work with children and young people in schools, youth clubs, young offenders institutions and young people in care. They provide a range of services from awareness raising assemblies, workshops dealing with bullying issues and setting up peer support schemes. They also offer training to adults and have worked with local authorities to do this. All work is FREE. For booking or more information please contact Jaime Smith or call him on 0207 650 3232.

Young People & Money free one day training course – The Financial Services Authority (FSA), in partnership with Citizens Advice and Fairbridge, has developed the Young People & Money free one day training course. The course has been designed to better equip those who work with young people aged under 25, who are not in education, employment or training in providing them with a greater understanding, awareness and confidence to help their young people make more sense of their money. A number of courses are available throughout London over the next two months.

Michelle Golding Films – More and more organisations are using online channels like youtube to get their messages across. Michelle Golding Film projects are individually tailored and can run intensively over 1-2 weeks with young people and be complete with a final professionally finished film within 4 weeks. The projects range from £8,000 upwards depending on the intensity of work with young people and the duration of the film. View Press coverage or for more information please contact Michelle Golding.  

Beat training and events – Are you looking to learn more about eating disorders? Beat is the leading UK charity for people with eating disorders and their families and they have a range of training and events for practitioners on this issue. For more information on any of beat's training, conferences or events, contact Dani Tanner or call 01603 753 304.

Young People’s Benefits – The Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion is running a training course on Young People’s benefits. This course will cost £195 for representatives from the statutory sector and will take place in London on 25 November 2008. For More information or to book please click here.

Information Day - places are still left on this training taking place on 13th November for one day at Friends House. If you want to develop and improve your skills on Working with Parents and Carers, Eating Disorders or Working with Young People, then book online. Or for more information on how to book your place, contact Eleaine Levi on 020 938 8080.

Learning Difficulties and Disabilities (LDD) - this one day training course will help you to work more effectively with young people who have learning difficulties or disabilities. If this is something you are interested in then book your place by logging on at www.centrallondonconnexions.org.uk with your username and password. If you do not have login details or have forgotten them, please email CLCTraining@rbkc.gov.uk.

Inclusive Volunteering: Breaking down the barriers – This national conference, organised by Rainer Crime Concern will examine the challenges and opportunities for inclusive volunteering, asking how we can breakdown barriers and widen volunteering opportunities for all. It will take place on 11 November 2008 in London.

Back from the brink: Turning young people away from crime – Nacro’s annual conference will examine how to pull young people back from the brink of criminality. The event will hear from policy and front line perspectives and from young people themselves. It will take place on 13 November in London and will cost £72.25 for delegates from the statutory sector.

Design, Develop, Deliver - Young Leaders in Practice Conference – Organised by Participation Works this conference is a unique opportunity to find out more about children and young people's empowerment and leadership. It will take place on 13 November in London and will cost £176.25 for voluntary sector organisations and £217.38 for statutory sector organisations.

Children and Young People's Health and Wellbeing Conference – The inaugural Children and Young People Now conference on children’s health looks beyond the theory to provide you with practical ways of implementing strategies to improve the health and wellbeing of children and young people. It will cost from £249 - £429+VAT and will take place in London on 17 November 2008.

A one-day conference on the role of Personal Advisers in welfare and related services – This important conference will explore a new model of public service professional: the personal adviser. It will review the changing role of frontline staff – personal advisers and intermediaries from the public, private and voluntary sector – in welfare-to-work and related services. It will take place in London on 19 November and will cost £250+VAT for local authorities.

Who's Afraid Of Children's Rights? The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child issues its five-yearly report on the UK in October. Join the Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE) to discuss the UN's recommendations, the threats and opportunities ahead and forthcoming campaigns. This event will take place in Kennington on 20 November 2008.

Playing Out: outdoor places = playable spaces? London Play's annual conference and AGM will include speakers and workshops with views on the shrinking outdoors; park play; and opening up school grounds for play. This event will take place on 20 November 2008 in London.

New generation, new media, new challenge! A groundbreaking conference, organised by 4Children and in partnership with Opportunity Links, looking at engaging young people through new media and how this can be used within local authorities to meet and exceed statutory targets. This event will take place in London on 27 November 2008.

Youth Act: Active Citizenship Training – This is a one day training course from the Citizenship Foundation for adults who have the remit to engage and involve young people in active citizenship projects in their local settings. It will take place on 8 December and will cost £150+VAT.

CHIPS is the outreach team for ChildLine. They work with children and young people in schools, youth clubs, young offenders institutions and young people in care. They provide a range of services from awareness raising assemblies, workshops dealing with bullying issues and setting up peer support schemes. They also offer training to adults and have worked with local authorities to do this. All work is FREE. For booking or more information please contact Jaime Smith or call him on 0207 650 3232.

Young People & Money free one day training course – The Financial Services Authority (FSA), in partnership with Citizens Advice and Fairbridge, has developed the Young People & Money free one day training course. The course has been designed to better equip those who work with young people aged under 25, who are not in education, employment or training in providing them with a greater understanding, awareness and confidence to help their young people make more sense of their money. A number of courses are available throughout London over the next two months.

Michelle Golding Films – More and more organisations are using online channels like youtube to get their messages across. Michelle Golding Film projects are individually tailored and can run intensively over 1-2 weeks with young people and be complete with a final professionally finished film within 4 weeks. The projects range from £8,000 upwards depending on the intensity of work with young people and the duration of the film. View Press coverage or for more information please contact Michelle Golding.  

Beat training and events – Are you looking to learn more about eating disorders? Beat is the leading UK charity for people with eating disorders and their families and they have a range of training and events for practitioners on this issue. For more information on any of beat's training, conferences or events, contact Dani Tanner or call 01603 753 304.

Young People’s Benefits – The Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion is running a training course on Young People’s benefits. This course will cost £195 for representatives from the statutory sector and will take place in London on 25 November 2008. For More information or to book please click here.

The new vetting and barring scheme, developed by the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), is a new improved checking and monitoring scheme aimed at preventing unsuitable people from working or volunteering with children and/or vulnerable adults. The new scheme goes live on 12 October 2009 and once the scheme is fully rolled out, it will be illegal for an employer to hire someone in any regulated activity or controlled activity who is not registered. The new scheme will replace the current List 99, PoCA, PoVA and Disqualification Orders regimes. This will apply to all Connexions PAs, as well as everyone who provides services directly to young people (see below).

The ISA is a new Non Departmental Public Body, which was formed as a result of the Bichard inquiry into child protection procedures in the light of the trial and conviction of Ian Huntley for the murder of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. The ISA will work in partnership with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) to deliver this new scheme.

Two types of lists will exist one for regulated activity and one for controlled activity. Regulated activity is defined as being of a specific nature (i.e. teaching, caring etc), a specific place (i.e. a school) or an individual in a position of authority (e.g. a school governor etc). Controlled activities include frequent or intensive support work in further education settings and anyone working in specific organisations who have access to sensitive data about children and vulnerable adults.

There will be a phased introduction the first batch of people to be processed through the scheme will be new workers or those changing jobs. The cost will be £64 which includes an enhanced CRB and a one off registration fee, although this will be free for volunteers. Custom and practice will be that the employer will pay for this. The entire children's workforce will be registered within 5 years, working on the principle that the longer a person has been working with children, the later they will be required to sign up. Staff working in administrative roles will be the last to register.

More information on the scheme, can be found here of if you have a specific enquiry please ask your manager.

The new vetting and barring scheme, developed by the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), is a new improved checking and monitoring scheme aimed at preventing unsuitable people from working or volunteering with children and/or vulnerable adults. The new scheme goes live on 12 October 2009 and once the scheme is fully rolled out, it will be illegal for an employer to hire someone in any regulated activity or controlled activity who is not registered. The new scheme will replace the current List 99, PoCA, PoVA and Disqualification Orders regimes. This will apply to all Connexions PAs, as well as everyone who provides services directly to young people (see below).

The ISA is a new Non Departmental Public Body, which was formed as a result of the Bichard inquiry into child protection procedures in the light of the trial and conviction of Ian Huntley for the murder of Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells. The ISA will work in partnership with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) to deliver this new scheme.

Two types of lists will exist one for regulated activity and one for controlled activity. Regulated activity is defined as being of a specific nature (i.e. teaching, caring etc), a specific place (i.e. a school) or an individual in a position of authority (e.g. a school governor etc). Controlled activities include frequent or intensive support work in further education settings and anyone working in specific organisations who have access to sensitive data about children and vulnerable adults.

There will be a phased introduction the first batch of people to be processed through the scheme will be new workers or those changing jobs. The cost will be £64 which includes an enhanced CRB and a one off registration fee, although this will be free for volunteers. Custom and practice will be that the employer will pay for this. The entire children's workforce will be registered within 5 years, working on the principle that the longer a person has been working with children, the later they will be required to sign up. Staff working in administrative roles will be the last to register.

More information on the scheme, can be found here of if you have a specific enquiry please ask your manager.

In June we reported on the GLA seminar on the possible effects of the credit crunch. Back then experts agreed that it was not a ‘blip’ but they could not agree on the severity of the downturn. Recently both Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England and Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister have used the ‘R-word’. So there seems to be an agreement that it will be a recession, rather than a less severe downturn.

Back in June, the two sectors, all the experts agreed would be affected, in terms of jobs lost, were the financial services sector and construction. These predictions seem to have been accurate with manufacturing being added to the sectors already badly hit. Now many are predicting that service sector jobs, such as those in retailing and hospitality will also be affected, with unemployment eventually hitting three million.

So far it has been hard to spot the impact on jobs for young people in Central London. Overall opportunities notified to boroughs in the Central London Connexions area went up from 898 in the first two quarters of 2007-08 to 1,274 in the same period of 2008-09.

On the surface it might seem that Connexions vacancies are immune from recession. However, looking at a snapshot of live vacancies on 20th October only 36 of 492 opportunities were in business services and only 21 in finance, usually two of the bigger employment sectors. Construction was not a big employer of Central London young people before the downturn, so it was not surprising to find only 21 opportunities. In addition, what construction vacancies there were demanded either good educational qualifications or on-site experience. Manufacturing may be a very small sector in Central London but three-day weeks in industries such as motor vehicle manufacturing could well reduce opportunities such as car sales and maintenance.

Over half of the live vacancies on 20th October were in retail and hospitality. Recruitment for the Westfield Shopping Centre in White City, which opened on 30th October has been a major factor in boosting opportunities since April. Similar (but smaller) shopping centres have been opening in other parts of the country defying the credit crunch. However, even without the ‘Westfield effect’ retail opportunities seem to be holding up well so far and the same is true of hairdressing (45 opportunities on 20th October).

Of course retail and hospitality will also feel the pinch. The overall trend is for consumers to be more cost conscious – while Marks & Spencers and Waitrose struggle Lidl and McDonalds are doing well and business for Pawnbrokers is booming.

Looking ahead to next year, far-sighted employers will continue training schemes, but some might reduce numbers and opportunities for school and college leavers are likely to be more competitive.

In June we reported on the GLA seminar on the possible effects of the credit crunch. Back then experts agreed that it was not a ‘blip’ but they could not agree on the severity of the downturn. Recently both Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England and Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister have used the ‘R-word’. So there seems to be an agreement that it will be a recession, rather than a less severe downturn.

Back in June, the two sectors, all the experts agreed would be affected, in terms of jobs lost, were the financial services sector and construction. These predictions seem to have been accurate with manufacturing being added to the sectors already badly hit. Now many are predicting that service sector jobs, such as those in retailing and hospitality will also be affected, with unemployment eventually hitting three million.

So far it has been hard to spot the impact on jobs for young people in Central London. Overall opportunities notified to boroughs in the Central London Connexions area went up from 898 in the first two quarters of 2007-08 to 1,274 in the same period of 2008-09.

On the surface it might seem that Connexions vacancies are immune from recession. However, looking at a snapshot of live vacancies on 20th October only 36 of 492 opportunities were in business services and only 21 in finance, usually two of the bigger employment sectors. Construction was not a big employer of Central London young people before the downturn, so it was not surprising to find only 21 opportunities. In addition, what construction vacancies there were demanded either good educational qualifications or on-site experience. Manufacturing may be a very small sector in Central London but three-day weeks in industries such as motor vehicle manufacturing could well reduce opportunities such as car sales and maintenance.

Over half of the live vacancies on 20th October were in retail and hospitality. Recruitment for the Westfield Shopping Centre in White City, which opened on 30th October has been a major factor in boosting opportunities since April. Similar (but smaller) shopping centres have been opening in other parts of the country defying the credit crunch. However, even without the ‘Westfield effect’ retail opportunities seem to be holding up well so far and the same is true of hairdressing (45 opportunities on 20th October).

Of course retail and hospitality will also feel the pinch. The overall trend is for consumers to be more cost conscious – while Marks & Spencers and Waitrose struggle Lidl and McDonalds are doing well and business for Pawnbrokers is booming.

Looking ahead to next year, far-sighted employers will continue training schemes, but some might reduce numbers and opportunities for school and college leavers are likely to be more competitive.