8:21am Friday 25th July 2008
By Charley Gray
More than 500 teenagers have been declared “missing” after falling through the gap in the education system.
Haringey is the joint worst borough in London, along with Hackney, with 11.7 per cent of 16 to 18-year-olds’ whereabouts in education or employment unknown.
This is up from 10.5 per cent in December 2007 to January 2008, when Haringey was the fourth worst in the country.
This rise in the number of unaccounted for teens was revealed at Haringey Council’s cabinet meeting last week, where opposition Liberal Democrats raised concerns about the “worrying statistics”.
The party accused the Labour-run council of failing to keep track of teenage school-leavers.
Councillor Gail Engert, Lib Dem spokeswoman for children, schools and families, said: “It is shocking that the council has managed to lose track of 500 young people. This is a really worrying sign.
“If the council does not know the whereabouts of these young people how can it ensure they are helped to gain access to employment or further education?
“Worryingly, we were the fourth worst in the country in figures compiled by the Government — now Haringey’s figures show that we are pushing to be the worst.”
The Department for Children, Schools and Families also reveal another 480 teenagers aged 16 to 18 are not in employment, training or education.
Altogether this means as many as one-in-five young people have left school and could be unemployed.
A council spokesman said: “The figures have dropped recently and we expect to see further reductions.
“One issue in Haringey is the highly transient population which sometimes makes follow-up of young people difficult if they do not provide a forwarding address.
“Sometimes their lack of contact with the council is an indication that they have found employment or are undertaking training outside the borough.
“We are making efforts to improve on the Connexions service follow-up procedures to provide more accurate figures.”
MP for Hornsey and Wood Green Lynne Featherstone MP stressed the importance of staying in touch with young people after they have left school.
She said: “If we are to break the cycle of poverty in Haringey every single young person needs as much help as possible to get jobs.
“It is therefore completely unacceptable that such little effort is made to stay in contact with a group of people who need our help most.”
© Copyright 2001-2010 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk