To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of people in (a) Lewes constituency and (b) England aged (i) between 16 and 18 and (ii) between 19 and 24 years old were not in education, employment or training in each year since 1997. (315767)

I have been asked to reply.

Estimates of the number and proportion of young people aged 16-18 who were not in education, employment or training (NEET) are published annually in the statistical first release (SFR) “Participation in Education, Training and Employment by 16-18 year olds in England”. This publication contains the Department’s best estimate of the NEET rate and is the official measure used to measure progress against out target to reduce the proportion of young people NEET by 2 percentage points by the end of 2010. The most recent SFR can be accessed via the Department’s website here:

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000849/index.shtml

A time series going back to 1985 is available under “Additional Information”.

A comparable measure of NEET for 19-24 year olds is not available. However, the Department publishes “NEET Statistics—Quarterly Brief” which contains an alternative measure of NEET covering 16-24 year olds. The next issue is due for publication on 25 February, 2010 and will be available via this link:

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/STR/d000913/index.shtml

Estimates of the proportion of young people NEET are not available at parliamentary constituency level. The smallest geographical area for which estimates are available is local authority. These local estimates are derived from data collected by Connexions services and are published on the DCSF 14-19 website and are only available for 16-18 year olds:

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/14-19/index.cfm?go=site.home&sid=42&pid=343&lid=337&ctype=Text&ptype=Single

Connexions local estimates are not directly comparable with the national estimates in the SFR. Figures for West Sussex since 2006, the earliest available, are shown in the following table.

There are no comparable or robust estimates of the proportion of 19-24 year olds NEET available for local authorities.