Official estimates of the number and proportion of young people of academic age 16 to 181 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) 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/s000849/index.shtml
Estimates from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) of the number and proportion of people of academic age 16 to 24 who were NEET in each region in England in each of the last eight quarters are shown in the following tables.
Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage North East 49,000 15 52,000 16 56,000 17 65,000 20 North West 120,000 14 136,000 16 139,000 16 151,000 18 Yorkshire and Humberside 82,000 12 75,000 11 101,000 15 119,000 18 East Midlands 70,000 13 69,000 13 71,000 13 86,000 16 West Midlands 93,000 15 95,000 15 98,000 16 119,000 19 East of England 74,000 12 87,000 14 77,000 13 82,000 13 London 123,000 14 129,000 15 132,000 15 149,000 16 South East 116,000 13 104,000 12 111,000 12 131,000 14 South West 56,000 10 63,000 11 55,000 10 71,000 13 England 782,000 13 810,000 14 840,000 14 973,000 16
Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage North East 54,000 17 57,000 18 69,000 21 74,000 23 North West 142,000 17 156,000 18 155,000 18 183,000 21 Yorkshire and Humberside 92,000 14 107,000 16 121,000 19 126,000 19 East Midlands 68,000 13 69,000 13 75,000 14 90,000 17 West Midlands 105,000 16 126,000 20 131,000 21 123,000 19 East of England 79,000 13 83,000 14 82,000 13 92,000 15 London 131,000 15 127,000 14 120,000 13 164,000 17 South East 122,000 13 130,000 14 142,000 15 144,000 16 South West 63,000 11 78,000 14 66,000 12 86,000 16 England 857,000 14 935,000 16 959,000 16 1,082,000 18
Estimates from the Labour Force Survey and will include pregnant mothers, those caring for children or relatives, people with a disability or suffering from ill health, and those waiting for a course or job to start, including those on a gap year. It should also be noted that the estimates are subject to survey error, and should therefore be treated with caution. The 95 per cent. confidence interval for a regional estimate of NEET using the Labour Force Survey is typically around plus or minus 2-3 percentage points.
We are committed to ensuring that young people NEET do not become a “lost generation” and have taken decisive action to strengthen existing provision and put in place new support, training and jobs for young people. Through the September Guarantee, we are offering all 16 and 17-year-olds a suitable place to continue in learning, and announced on 18 November plans to extend the Guarantee to 16 and 17-year-olds who are NEET in January. Budget 2009 announced the Young Person's Guarantee of a job, training or a place in the Community Task Force for 18 to 24-year-olds who are approaching 12 months on jobseeker's allowance. Already 95,000 jobs under the Future Jobs Fund have been approved and some young people have started work.
In July, the Government launched ‘Backing Young Britain’ to bring together businesses, charities and Government to create opportunities for young people giving them a better start on the career ladder.
By offering schemes such as volunteering, work experience and apprenticeships we will ensure that young people get the start they deserve to get on the career ladder.
1 Academic age refers to the age at the start of the academic year, 31 August.
Estimates of the number of 16 to 19-year-olds participating in education, employment or training are not available at parliamentary constituency level. The Department for Children Schools and Families publishes annual estimates of the proportion of 16 to 17-year-olds participating in education and training in each local authority. These estimates are available via this link under “additional information”:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000849/index.shtml
Connexions services, which have responsibility for supporting young people and tracking their progress, record the main activity of 16 to 18-year-olds who are known to them in each local authority area. These estimates include young people who are resident elsewhere and travel into the area to study. Furthermore, the denominator for these estimates includes a small number of young people whose main activity is not known.
Proportion of 16 to 18-year-olds in education, training or employment (percentage) 20061 83.8 20072 94.8 20082 94.5 1 2006 estimate excludes young people in part-time employment. 2 2007 and 2008 estimates include young people in part-time employment.
Claimant count data is available via the Office for National Statistics Nomis website:
https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/
The following table shows the average number of young people aged 16 to 19 claiming job seeker's allowance and thereby registered unemployed in the Torbay constituency in each year from 1996, the first year available. Because population estimates for 16 to 19-year-olds are not routinely available by parliamentary constituency, it is not possible to express these figures as percentages.
Average claimant count 1996 340 1997 265 1998 250 1999 215 2000 160 2001 170 2002 160 2003 160 2004 150 2005 140 2006 170 2007 170 2008 175 2009 285
It should be noted that 16 and 17-year-olds do not have access to job seeker's allowance except in cases of severe hardship.