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10 Dec 2007 : Column 274W—continued

	LLFS 2004/05		APS 2005		APS 2006
	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
Barking and Dagenham	4,000	47	4,000	47	3,600	39
Barnet	7,300	46	7,300	46	9,100	55
Bexley	4,500	41	4,500	41	3,900	32
Brent	7,800	71	7,800	71	7,700	76
Bromley	5,700	41	5,700	41	4,700	34
Camden	6,000	65	6,000	65	4,300	55
Croydon	8,400	47	8,400	47	7,500	48
Ealing	6,800	53	6,800	53	5,500	42
Enfield	7,500	53	7,500	53	6,300	46
Greenwich	3,400	32	3,400	32	3,900	31
Hackney	6,900	56	6,900	56	5,400	47
Hammersmith and Fulham	3,500	48	3,500	48	4,800	71
Haringey	6,500	52	6,500	52	6,400	49
Harrow	4,900	46	4,900	46	4,800	58
Havering	3,800	36	3,800	36	4,300	37
Hillingdon	7,000	51	7,000	51	4,600	41
Hounslow	4,200	42	4,200	42	4,200	37
Islington	3,800	54	3,800	54	3,600	44
Kensington and Chelsea	4,100	86	4,100	86	3,400	68
Kingston upon Thames	3,100	41	3,100	41	2,800	42
Lambeth	3,600	46	3,600	46	4,000	36
Lewisham	4,300	48	4,300	48	6,900	64
Merton	2,400	42	2,400	42	4,200	43
Newham	7,400	58	7,400	58	7,100	60
Redbridge	9,200	66	9,200	66	7,100	50
Richmond upon Thames	4,000	53	4,000	53	3,700	53
Southwark	6,300	52	6,300	52	5,200	45
Sutton	2,000	23	2,000	23	2,800	30
Tower Hamlets	6,200	49	6,200	49	8,200	61
Waltham Forest	4,000	44	4,000	44	4,400	40
Wandsworth	6,600	50	6,600	50	4,900	55
Westminster(2)	4,500	59	4,500	59	8,200	78
(1) The percentage of 16 to 19-year-olds in employment or training but not in employment relates to academic age and is the average over a whole year. (2) Data for City of London were included with Westminster in the APS and LLFS data.

Vocational Education: Finance

Matthew Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what central Government funding was for vocational higher education in (a) Cornwall and (b) England in each year since 1979. [166708]

Bill Rammell: I have been asked to reply.

It is not possible to answer the question in precisely the way it has been asked. Total Government funding for higher education has risen from around £500 million in 1979 to some £10 billion today, but successive Governments have not allocated funding on the basis of particular areas or types of provision, but largely on the basis of supply and demand. We are keen to raise both the demand for and supply of sustainable
10 Dec 2007 : Column 275W
higher education opportunities in Cornwall and will continue to work with a range of partners to try to achieve this.

Young People: Employment

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families what assessment he has made of the likely effects of the provisions of the Education and Skills Bill if enacted on the employment of young people aged 16 to 18 years; and if he will make a statement. [171926]

Jim Knight: Under the policy to raise the participation age 16 and 17-year-olds will still be able to work, as long as they are in some form of education or training alongside this. There will be no effect on those currently in full-time employment, and there will never be a situation in which full time employees suddenly have to change to part time working—the first 16-year-olds to be affected are aged 10 now. Young people will know before entering employment at 16 that they have to be in learning part time. And they will not all necessarily work part time. Some will work full time and be provided will accredited training by their employer, and we will encourage employers to do this. Some may rearrange their working hours to attend part time training, rather than working fewer hours. The impact assessment for the Education and Skills Bill was published alongside the Bill on 29 November and copies have been placed in the Library of the House. The impact assessment sets out that the estimated foregone productivity cost to the economy of some young people being released for education or training for one day a week who might otherwise have worked full-time is estimated to be around £4.3 million per cohort.

Young People: Unemployment

Mr. Hepburn: To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many people aged (a) 16 and (b) 17 in (i) Jarrow constituency, (ii) South Tyneside, (iii) the North East and (iv) the UK were not in education, employment or training in each year since 1997. [169841]

Beverley Hughes: The Department publishes annual estimates of the number of 16 and 17-year-olds not in education, employment or training (NEET) in England. Figures for 1997 to 2006 are shown in the following table. Equivalent information for the UK is not available.

	16 year-olds NEET	17 year-olds NEET
1997	38,100	48,000
1998	44,900	49,800
1999	41,800	41,800
2000	42,400	43,700
2001	45,900	59,000
2002	49,800	55,000
2003	51,400	47,500
2004	51,000	59,000
2005	53,000	73,300
2006 (provisional)	42,800	62,700

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