To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many under 25 year olds were not in employment, education or training in (a) England, (b) Northamptonshire and (c) Kettering in each of the last five years. (160598)

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 25 October 2007:

The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about young people not in education, training or employment. I am replying in her absence. (160598)

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) compiles statistics for local areas from the annual local area Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the Annual Population Survey (APS) following International Labour Organisation (ILO) definitions.

The table attached shows the numbers of 16 to 24 year olds not in full-time education, employment or training, resident in the Kettering constituency, Northamptonshire county and England. Estimates are provided from the local area LFS for the 12 months ending in February, for 2003 and 2004, and from the APS for the 12 months ending in March, for 2005 to 2007. The table also shows these numbers as the percentage of all 16 to 24 year olds in the areas, for each year, which allows changes to be seen in the context of changing population numbers.

Estimates for a subset of the population in a small geographical area are based on very small sample sizes, and are therefore subject to large margins of uncertainty. Changes over time should be treated with particular caution.