Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the collection of data on young people who are not in education, employment or training.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The government is investing an additional £2.5 billion over the next three years into the Youth Guarantee and Growth and Skills Levy, supporting almost one million young people and creating up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn.
For young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), or at risk, the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper set a clear ambition for improving identification, tracking and data sharing, so that prevention or reengagement support can be targeted at those who need it most.
The department has made a new risk of NEET indicator (RONI) tool available to local areas to identify risk earlier and more consistently, and is investing in support for monitoring attendance in further education to enable earlier intervention.
We are also improving data quality and sharing across education transitions, providing clearer guidance on the use of RONI tools, and exploring the safe and ethical use of artificial intelligence to support professional judgement.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what targets they have set for reducing the number of young people aged 16 and 17 with an unknown education, employment or training status.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Reducing the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) is a shared priority for government and local authorities, preventing the impacts of disengagement on individuals, the economy and society.
Local authorities support this by maintaining effective systems to identify and support NEET young people. There is already strong practice across the sector, often in the face of significant challenges. The department has written to all local authorities and contacted those where the proportion of young people whose activity is not known is in the highest quintile to provide support and challenge, understand local circumstances, and agree actions.
To support local authorities, we have introduced a new risk of NEET indicator tool and guidance. The department is continuing to refine it with local authorities and monitoring its impact on earlier identification of young people at risk of becoming NEET.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what information will be collected to measure the success of the new Risk of NEET Indicator tool.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Reducing the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) is a shared priority for government and local authorities, preventing the impacts of disengagement on individuals, the economy and society.
Local authorities support this by maintaining effective systems to identify and support NEET young people. There is already strong practice across the sector, often in the face of significant challenges. The department has written to all local authorities and contacted those where the proportion of young people whose activity is not known is in the highest quintile to provide support and challenge, understand local circumstances, and agree actions.
To support local authorities, we have introduced a new risk of NEET indicator tool and guidance. The department is continuing to refine it with local authorities and monitoring its impact on earlier identification of young people at risk of becoming NEET.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons why 32,100 young people aged 16 and 17 have an unknown education, employment or training status.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Reducing the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) is a shared priority for government and local authorities, preventing the impacts of disengagement on individuals, the economy and society.
Local authorities support this by maintaining effective systems to identify and support NEET young people. There is already strong practice across the sector, often in the face of significant challenges. The department has written to all local authorities and contacted those where the proportion of young people whose activity is not known is in the highest quintile to provide support and challenge, understand local circumstances, and agree actions.
To support local authorities, we have introduced a new risk of NEET indicator tool and guidance. The department is continuing to refine it with local authorities and monitoring its impact on earlier identification of young people at risk of becoming NEET.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the capacity of the childcare sector to deliver Government-funded childcare places; and what their current estimate is of any shortfall or surplus of places.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Through the Best Start in Life strategy, the department is focused on reforming the childcare system and delivering on our Plan for Change. This government continues to prioritise and protect investment in the early years, which is why we are investing over £1 billion more in early years entitlements next year compared to 2025/26. The school-based nursery programme is a £400 million capital investment to deliver the government’s manifesto commitment to create or expand thousands of additional school-based nurseries across England, increasing access to childcare for families.
The department is providing £82 million of capital funding to over 600 primary and maintained nursery schools across phases 1 and 2 which will create over 11,000 new nursery places by September 2027, of which over 5,000 places were available from September 2025.
The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action they are taking to address those issues and, where needed, support the local authority with any specific requirements through our childcare sufficiency support contract. There are currently no sufficiency challenges reported.
Asked by: Baroness Stedman-Scott (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Smith of Malvern on 25 July (HL351), which organisations (rather than individuals) responded to the consultation.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) and Health Education consultation received over 143,000 responses. These are currently being analysed and the findings, including analytics about the respondents, will be published once my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education has had an opportunity to look at them carefully, alongside discussing with stakeholders and considering the relevant evidence, including the Cass Review which has since been published, before setting out next steps.
The consultation did not ask respondents to disclose the organisation they represent, and responses from organisations were only categorised by type, such as school, local authority, union or charity so we are unable to provide a comprehensive list.