The number of school leavers who remain out of education, employment or training in Scotland is at a standstill.

The number of school leavers who remain out of education, employment or training in Scotland is at a standstill.

A survey of those who left secondary school in 2006-07 shows that 13% had not taken up opportunities to improve their prospects.

The figure has not moved since December, 2007, when statistics on 57,000 school leavers were last recorded.

The Scottish Government said that £66m would be spent over the next three years to strengthen the link between schools and employers.

Tory schools spokeswoman Liz Smith said that real action was needed to help those Not in Education, Employment and Training (Neets).

"Our focus must now be on the 13% who are currently excluded from these opportunities. More people are unemployed than participating in some sort of training scheme and this represents a wasted generation, without either opportunities or prospects," she said.

The number of Neets in England has fallen for the second year running by 9.4%.

John Park, Labour's spokesperson on skills, said: "I hope the fact that figures released today show total standstill will act as a warning shot to the SNP."