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Pre-Budget Report

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The matter concerns us all. The number of young people who are staying on in education, especially in school, is not high enough, especially given the challenges of the global economy that I have mentioned. Some 90,000 young people now receive educational maintenance allowances. However, my hon. Friend is right that we should build extra help around that. We can learn from what has happened in London. I have suggested that there should be more mentoring support and a project to catch people in their earlier years—before 14—when there is a danger of them drifting into trouble and antisocial behaviour. At the same time, we need to persuade people who leave school at 16 to stay on in other forms of education. I look forward to discussing those important ideas with my hon. Friend.