To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many people over the age of 16 years and under the state retirement age are not in employment, education or training, or providing full-time child care for their children. (150084)

According to estimates from the Labour Force Survey in quarter 4, 2006 there was a total of 30,710,000 people of working age in England. Of these 5,644,000 (18.4 per cent.) were not in employment, education or training (NEET). Of those who were NEET 913,000 had said that they were either not seeking or not available or not wanting work because they were looking after their family/home and had at least one child aged under five. This leaves a total of 4,731,000 (15.4 per cent. of the working age population) who were NEET and did not say they were unavailable to work because they were looking after a child under five.

To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many and what proportion of people aged 18 to 24 years had been classed as not in employment, education or training for (a) up to three months, (b) between three and six months, (c) between six and nine months, (d) between nine and 12 months and (e) over 12 months in each quarter since 1992. (148360)

[holding answer 9 July 2007]: The information requested is not available. However, snapshot estimates are available from the Labour Force Survey. The following table gives for England the number and proportion of 18-24 year olds classed as not in employment, education or training for years and quarters available.