Young People: West Lancashire

Rosie Cooper
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what proportion of young people in West Lancashire constituency were not in education, employment or training in each of the last 10 years;

(2) how many people not in employment, education or training were aged (a) under 19, (b) under 21 and (c) under 25 years in West Lancashire constituency in each year since 1997.

Bill Rammell
The following table gives the estimated proportion of 16 to 18-year-olds not in education, employment or training (NEET) in the Lancashire local authority area in each of the last three years:

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|    |Percentage|
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|2004|7.9       |
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|2005|8.1       |
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|2006|7.7       |
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These figures are drawn from the client management systems maintained by Connexions services. Local authority level information is available only from 2004, and is not available for the West Lancashire constituency area. Comparable figures are not available for older ages.

Connexions data relate to young people known to the service; those who attended independent schools or were at school outside England are unlikely to be included. The age relates to those of calendar year age 16 to 18 on the date of measurement.

These figures cannot be compared with the national figures published by the Department and used to measure the NEET PSA. 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 to 18.