Young People: NEET

Miss McIntosh
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of young people were not in education, employment or training in each of the last five years.

Jim Knight
The following table gives the proportion of 16-18 year olds not in education, employment or training (NEET) in England in each of the last five years for which figures are available.

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|End of calendar year|Proportion of 16-18 year olds not in training education, employment (NEET) (%)|
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|2001                |10                                                                            |
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|2002                |10                                                                            |
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|2003                |10                                                                            |
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|2004                |10                                                                            |
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|2005 provisional    |11                                                                            |
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Mr. Evennett
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of young people in the London borough of Bexley were not in education, employment or training in each of the last 10 years.

Mr. Dhanda
The following table gives the proportion of 16-18 year olds in the London borough of Bexley who were not in education, employment or training (NEET) in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Figures for earlier years are not available.

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|    |Percentage NEET|
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|2004|7.8            |
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|2005|8.2            |
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|2006|6.9            |
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These figures are drawn from the operational client management systems maintained the Connexions Service. They include 16-18 year olds known to the Connexions; young people who attended independent schools or were at school outside England may be excluded. The age relates to those of calendar year age 16-18 on the date of measurement. The figures are for the average percentage NEET between November and January each year.

This NEET measure is that used for setting and monitoring local authority NEET targets. The definition differs from that used to measure the national departmental PSA NEET target. Along with not covering the entire population, the Connexions NEET measure excludes those on gap years, or in custody. The PSA measure is for academic rather than calendar age 16-18.