Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of (a) local and (b) regional factors on trends in the number of people who are not in education, employment or training.

The quarterly estimates for young people (aged 16-to-24 years) who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) in the UK can be found here: Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) - Office for National Statistics. Currently, there is no regional or local breakdown in these Official Statistics. The most recent release from the ONS shows that the NEET rate in the UK has gradually increased on the year to 12.8% in Apr-Jun 2025.

The Department for Education produces estimates of young people (aged 16 to 24 years old) who are NEET for England, which can be found here: NEET age 16 to 24, Calendar year 2024 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK. Currently, there is no Official Statistical release that shows the trends in 16–24-year-olds NEETs at the local level.

The Department for Education does produce a yearly release for those aged 16-17 at local authority level for England. This can be found here: Participation in education, training and NEET age 16 to 17 by local authority, Academic year 2024/25 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK. This uses the National Client Caseload information system to estimate the number of 16–17-year-olds in England who are not in education, employment or training.

The Get Britain Working White Paper set out our ambitions to transform employment support and tackle economic inactivity. As part of this, local areas in England are producing Local Get Britain Working Plans to develop a system-wide approach to identifying and addressing local labour market challenges.

The Youth Guarantee Trailblazers, which launched in Spring 2025, are identifying and engaging young people who require additional support to connect them to opportunities. We will use the learning from the Trailblazers to inform the future design and development of the Youth Guarantee.