Yorkshire boasts the third-highest proportion of young people not in education, employment or training, worrying figures show.

Across the region, some 114,000 young people aged 16 to 24 are classed as Neets.

People who fall into that category are often seen as being typified by the teenage delinquent Vicky Pollard in TV comedy Little Britain, but many could be between jobs, on gap years, or young mums looking after babies.

The figures published yesterday for each region show 17 per cent of all young people across Yorkshire and Humber is classed as a Neet. Latest figures for Bradford stand at 11,000.

Bradford South MP Gerry Sutcliffe said the Government was wrong to scrap Labour’s Jobs Guarantee, which promised anyone under 25 out of work for more than six months would be given training or work.

He said: “Unemployment is bad, but youth unemployment is even worse. It is the beginning of a cycle of unemployment that affects a generation and we have seen this before in Bradford and we cannot let it happen again. These figures are very alarming and by scrapping schemes introduced to help get young people into work and training is making the problem worse and harder for people.”

A Government spokesman said: “The number of young people who are Neet is still too high. That is why we are committed to supporting all 16 and 17 year olds to participate in education or training, and to raising the participation age to 18 by 2015.

“Government departments are working closely together to widen the opportunities available to young people aged 16 to 24 and to ensure that they are provided with the support they need.”