A senior Whitehall official has criticised the ‘profoundly shocking' failure to support unemployed youngsters, after research suggested one in seven jobless youths in some cities risked dying within 10 years. Jon Coles, director general of schools at the Department for Children, Schools and Families, revealed the startling statistics at a conference in London on 6 August. He said that research in one northern city indicated one in seven long-term ‘Neets' – youngsters aged 16 to 24 who are not in education, employment or training – died within 10 years of falling out of the system. ‘[Researchers] found one profoundly shocking statistic. Of those long-term Neets of 10 years ago – those outside the system for a long period of time – 15% were dead by the time that research was carried out,' he explained. ‘For those of us who think education is not a matter of life and death, actually, for those young people – the most vulnerable in our society – it really is,' he said. According to the research, many youngsters simply fall into a ‘downward spiral' and are far more likely to be killed by drug and alcohol abuse, violent crime, ill health or suicide. A Department for Children, Schools and Families spokesman said the study cited by Mr Coles ‘could not be taken as representative of the whole country'. But the revelations will be viewed by ministers as all the more worrying because national Neet levels have increased to 935,000 (16% of 16 to 24-year-olds), despite the fact that local authorities identified tackling Neet levels as their biggest priority target under the fledgling local area agreement programme. The biggest increase during the recession has been among inner-city youths.
