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9 Feb 2010 : Column 964W—continued

Unemployment: Torbay

Mr. Sanders: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many people under 25 years old were not in employment, education or training in (a) Torbay constituency and (b) each region in (i) 1997, (ii) 2007 and (iii) 2008-09. [314618]

Kevin Brennan: The following table gives estimates of the number and proportion of people aged⁽¹⁾ 16 to 24 not in education employment or training (NEET) in each region in the fourth quarter of 2000, 2007 and 2008. This information is from the labour force survey (LFS). Due to incomplete data, estimates are not available prior to 2000.

Please note that these estimates are subject to large sampling variability and should therefore be treated with caution and viewed in conjunction with the confidence intervals⁽²⁾ (CIs), which indicate how accurate an estimate is. For example, a 95 per cent. CI of +1-3.2 percentage points (pp) means that the true value is between 3.2pp above the estimate and 3.2pp below the estimate, for 95 per cent. of estimates.

The LFS sample is not large enough to provide estimates for small geographies such as constituencies.

⁽¹⁾ Age used is respondents academic age, which is defined as their age at the preceding 31 August.

⁽²⁾ Those given are 95 per cent. confidence intervals

Table: People aged 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training for each region
Region	Q4: NEET n umber			Q4: NEET p ercentage			Q4: Confidence Intervals (pp)
	2000	2007	2008	2000	2007	2008	2008
North East	50,000	49,000	54,000	18.3	15.3	16.7	+/-3.2
North West	95,000	120,000	142,000	13.5	14.2	16.8	+/-2.0
Yorks and Humber	75,000	82,000	92,000	13.9	12.3	13.6	+/-2.0
East Midlands	56000	70000	68000	13.0	13.0	12.8	+/-2.2
West Midlands	82,000	93,000	105,000	15.0	14.7	16.4	+/-2.3
East of England	54,000	74,000	79,000	10.3	12.1	12.9	+/-2.1
London	95,000	123,000	131,000	11.3	14.2	14.6	+/-2.0
South East	74,000	116,000	122000	9.3	12.8	13.2	+/-1.7
South West	48,000	56,000	63,000	10.3	9.8	11.1	+/-2.1
England	629,000	782,000	857,000	12.3	13.1	14.2	+/-0.7
Note: Base: 16 to 24 year olds, England Source: Quarter 4 labour force survey

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Vocational Training: Finance

Mr. Drew: To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how much funding his Department allocated to vocational training in each of the last three years. [316034]

Kevin Brennan: Train to Gain and Apprenticeships are the primary programmes that deliver vocational learning to learners aged 19+ that are funded by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). The funding that has been allocated to these programmes for the financial years 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11 are given in the table following table.

9 Feb 2010 : Column 966W

In addition to these programmes, vocational learning forms an element of a number of other programmes that are funded by the LSC, including Foundation Learning and Response to Redundancy programmes.

£ million
	2008-09	2009-10	2010-11
Apprenticeships 19+	332	390	398
Train to Gain	826	926	983
Source: BIS Skills Investment Strategy 2010-11

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