The National Audit Office has applauded the success of the government's Connexions Service.

The Connexions programme, which gives advice and guidance to young people, is on target to meeting its major objective of reducing the proportion of 16- to 18-year olds not in education, employment or training by 10 per cent by November 2004.

The Connexions service, part of the Department for Education and Skills, was launched nationally on a phased basis in April 2001 with an annual budget of £450 million and is delivered through a network of 47 Connexions Partnerships.

It aims to help all young people make informed choices and ease the transition into adult life.

“In a relatively short period of time the Connexions Service has made significant progress towards reducing the proportion of young people not in education, employment or training," said NAO chief Sir John Bourn.

"The costs of not tackling this issue are huge, both to society and to the individuals affected.

"Connexions is providing valuable services to help young people make important life decisions but more can be done to ensure that all young people obtain the support they need and my report makes recommendations to help build on the very good results achieved to date.”

The target to reduce the proportion of young people not in education, employment or training by 10 per cent between November 2002 and November 2004 has been made more demanding by the fact that Connexions partnerships are actively seeking to identify previously unknown cases of young people who are not in education, employment or training.

However, despite the success of the initiative, Sir John identified several areas where the programme was still not achieving peak performance.

He claimed the service did not always cater for the needs of young people who are not at risk of dropping out of education and training, fewer personal advisers are in place than was originally envisaged, and there was a lack of clarity regarding the respective roles of schools and the Connexions Service in providing careers advice to young people.