Schools and public officials will be accused of not doing enough to tackle truancy and help young people into jobs by a new report into the causes of summer riots published this week.
The Riots, Communities and Victims Panel, set up by David Cameron to investigate what went wrong, will warn that more than half of those living in affected areas believe that schools are taking inadequate measures to stop pupils skipping lessons.
It will say that similar numbers also believe that schools are not preparing children for work and that there are insufficient opportunities such as apprenticeships available.
Further findings show four out of five think that youth unemployment is a problem in their area and that public services are not doing enough to address it. Three quarters feel that there are not enough job opportunities for school leavers.
The figures form part of a wide-ranging report to be presented to the Prime Minister by the panel this week
It will call for a range of measures that the Government, councils, police parents, businesses and others could take to prevent future disturbances and follows meetings and opinion surveys conducted around the country.
Darra Singh, the panel’s chairman, said: “When we spoke to people on our visits to 22 communities affected by the riots we heard that there are many families being left to ‘bump along the bottom’ of society. Local public services aren’t adequately supporting people to turn their lives around.”
Today’s findings are based on a survey of 1,200 people in four riot-hit neighbourhoods and two similar districts that escaped trouble.
The poll found that only 43 per cent felt schools adequately prepared young people for work and that 53 per cent felt there were not enough opportunities such as apprenticeships to chose at school.
Only 42 per cent of respondents felt schools were doing enough to address truancy, while 82 per said that youth unemployment was a problem in their area.
