FEWER youngsters fall off the radar in Swindon thanks to effective council systems, according to youth project leader, Satnam Bains.

Last week the Public Accounts Committee said local authorities were not doing enough to monitor what 16 to 18-year-olds are doing in order to support them.

On average, seven per cent of youngsters’ activity is unknown to local authorities, with some admitting to not knowing what as many as 20 per cent of their youth population are up to.

But Swindon seems to be bucking the trend, with numerous systems in place to engage youngsters beyond the classroom.

Satnam Bains who manages Penhill-based youth project Clivey and Twist, said: “Swindon’s quite good when it comes to monitoring and engaging Neets (not in employment, education or training).

“When people become Neet, they can become untraceable. Young people tend to move around a lot, they lead transient lifestyles and they might not be very good at updating people when they move home or move town even, or when they leave school or drop out, and it can be very difficult for local authorities to keep track of them.

“But Swindon Council actually do quite a good job. They work with a number of organisations to keep track and hold regular meetings to make sure we’re all doing the best we can for the young people.

“Youngsters can become Neet for all sorts of reasons, they can drop out of school because they find it boring. They might be young carers, and play up because they haven’t got time to go to school. You’ll still find them there though because that’s where their friends are.

“Part of what we try to do at Clivey and Twist is show that the benefits of staying in education and training or going into employment so they can make positive life choices that suit them.”

In Swindon, 5.7 per cent of 16-to-18 year olds are Neet, which is slightly above the national average of 4.7 per cent, and the activities of only 3.3 per cent of 16-and-17-year-olds and 8.6 per cent of 18-year-olds are unknown. This is compares to the national averages of 4.7 per cent and 17 per cent respectively. Despite national figures indicating that the number of teenagers who are Neet are at their lowest since records began, the report from the PAC said that 148,000 out of two million 16 to 18-year-olds in England are still Neet.

Margaret Hodge, who chairs the PAC, said: “Too many young people simply disappear from all the relevant public systems. One hundred thousand plus young people are off the radar in that some local authorities do not know whether they are participating in education or training or not.”