According the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) local councils do not know what large numbers of 16- to 18-year-olds in their areas are doing and fail to give them adequate support. The PAC is also critical of a lack of careers advice for young people.
The government said the rate of 16- to 18-year-olds who are not in education, employment or training (Neet) is at its lowest since consistent records began. But in a report, the committee says 148,000 out of two million 16- to 18-year-olds in England are Neet.
It warns tens of thousands of these “simply disappear from all the relevant public systems”.
The committee says there is a duty on local authorities to track 16- to 18-year-olds in their area, but some local authorities do not know whether young people are participating in education or training or not.
Nationally, 7% of young people’s activity is unknown. In some local authorities the proportion is as high as 20%. Read more
