Malcolm Moss (North East Cambridgeshire, Conservative)

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many young people were not in education, employment or training in (a) England and (b) North East Cambridgeshire in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

Iain Wright (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Children, Schools and Families; Hartlepool, Labour)

h olding answer 16 September 2009

I have been asked to reply.

Estimates of participation in education, training and employment for those aged 16 to 18 are published by the Department in a Statistical First Release (SFR) each June and can be found on the Department's website

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000792/index.shtml

These estimates cannot be broken down to constituency level. However, Connexions Services collect information on the number and proportion of 16 to 18-year-olds NEET in each local authority area. Figures for Cambridgeshire are shown in the following table. As the Connexions data set is calculated in a different way to the Department's official estimates set out above, comparative figures for England are also shown. Figures for Cambridgeshire are not available prior to 2006.

Through the September Guarantee, we are providing every young person aged 16 to 17 with a suitable offer of a place in learning. This has helped us to make excellent progress on participation, with a record level of 88 per cent. of 16 to 17-year-olds in education and training at the end of 2008, and the third consecutive fall in the proportion of 16 to 17 year olds NEET. Connexions services provide advice and support to all young people and since April 2009, 18-year-old jobseekers who have been NEET for 26 weeks have received early entry to the additional support available through the New Deal.