Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with referene to his contribution of 26 January 2015, Official Report, column 546, on the innovation fund for young people, what the evidential basis is for the statement that 7.1 per cent of all young people are unemployed and not in full-time education.

The statement reflects information published by the Office for National Statistics in table 14 of its UK Labour Market, January 2015 Statistical Bulletin. This shows that in September to November 2014, 520,000 young people aged 16-24 were not in full-time education and unemployed. This is 7.1% of the overall youth population of 7.3 million.