The number of "Neets" in Bradford might be down on the previous year's figure at 1,500, but there are still far too many of the district's young people "not in education, employment or training" among them one in ten youngsters aged between 16 and 18.
From figures published by Education Minister Jim Knights it has been estimated that at an average annual cost to the taxpayer of £97,000 (and in worst cases up to £300,000) these young people who so far have failed to find a useful niche for themselves in society could be costing the district £150 million. That includes lost tax revenue, benefits being paid, the extra cost of health and medical services and the costs of criminal activities. There are many other ways in which those resources could usefully be spent.
However, the most lamentable waste is not to be measured in cash terms but in the lost potential of all these young people, who presently have no stake in society. It was to enable that potential to find an outlet that the Government made encouraging people to stay in education after 16 one of its priorities.
As David Yates, partnership director for Bradford at Connexions West Yorkshire, rightly says, the 14 per cent drop in the local figure in a year is a good start but now they have to enable it to continue.
He might take heart from the success in the district of Adult Learners Week, which we report elsewhere today. That shows that even if education is interrupted it is possible to resume it and derive great benefits from it.
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