Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether those who leave further education before the end of their course are included in the without education, employment or training statistics in the year of departure.

The department publishes statistics on those not in education, employment or training (NEET) for England from the labour force survey (LFS) for young people aged 16-24. These are accessible at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief/2024.

Additionally, estimates of young people aged 16 to 18 participating in education and training using the department’s administrative data are published at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/participation-in-education-and-training-and-employment/2024. This release contains the most robust measure for 16 to 18 year olds NEET.

Both NEET sources are based on status at time of data collection and therefore the definition does not rely on being out of education and employment for a specific length of time before being categorised as NEET.

Neither source can be used to estimate the number of young people who left school/further education before the end of their course. However, they will be included in the statistics as NEET if they had left their course prior to the reporting timeframe and not taken part in any employment or alternative education at that time.