NEET number continues to rise.

According to the latest government figures, the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) has increased year-on-year by nearly 20%, taking the overall figure up to 794 000--up by 119 000 from last year.

The worst-affected areas have been the north-west of England, the east of England and London.

This record rise in young people (aged 19 to 24) who are not undertaking any sort of job, training activity, apprenticeship or further education has been blamed on a variety of factors including a lack of jobs and college places, as well as on a fear of getting into debt while studying.

The government has proposed a scheme to expand apprenticeship opportunities, but this has not yet been rolled out across the country. Others have called for a guaranteed job for every young person who has been out of work for more than one year.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: 'We have made our commitment to raising the participation age, so all 16- and 17-year-olds are in education or training by 2015, and our cross-government strategy later in the year will set out how we will improve post-16 participation further.'

Following the widespread national rioting in early August, it was thought that the government might have altered its forthcoming youth policy, due to be announced this autumn.

However, the Department for Education said that there were no plans to do so.