Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to improve the collection of data on young people who are not in education, employment or training.

The government is investing an additional £2.5 billion over the next three years into the Youth Guarantee and Growth and Skills Levy, supporting almost one million young people and creating up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn.

For young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), or at risk, the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper set a clear ambition for improving identification, tracking and data sharing, so that prevention or reengagement support can be targeted at those who need it most.

The department has made a new risk of NEET indicator (RONI) tool available to local areas to identify risk earlier and more consistently, and is investing in support for monitoring attendance in further education to enable earlier intervention.

We are also improving data quality and sharing across education transitions, providing clearer guidance on the use of RONI tools, and exploring the safe and ethical use of artificial intelligence to support professional judgement.