Alan Milburn is right, a young generation has been betrayed. Forget Tony Blair: we must attend to this | Polly Toynbee

More than a million young people are not in work, education, or training, with an expected rise to 1.25 million without radical change. The situation is framed as a moral crisis driven by inadequate health, education, and pastoral care, plus employer reluctance to hire young people. Institutional neglect has reduced youth and careers services, while dislocated agencies fail to communicate or share data effectively. Small schemes have come and gone without lasting impact. Inequality shapes outcomes, with young people from poorest families and deprived, job-free areas most likely to become not in education, employment, or training. Early lack of support increases the likelihood of becoming not in education, employment, or training, and each year makes recovery less likely.

"There are now more than a million young people not in work, education or training (Neets), and Milburn expects that number to rise to 1.25 million without radical change. The government needs a big idea, he tells me. This should be it, the spine, the purpose. Perhaps he was expected only to solve the particular problem of left-behind and lost Neets. What he has delivered instead is an excoriating overview of how badly this young generation is treated altogether."

"Why have children and young people had such a low priority in resources and political concern, especially since 2010? There has been institutional neglect, loss of youth and careers services, chaotic non-communication or data exchange between dislocated silos, small schemes coming and going. Milburn describes a catastrophic failure: it needs a whole system reset and no more tinkering."

"Britain's gross inequality was always starkly revealed in the fate of children: those from the poorest families and in geographically deprived, job-free areas are most destined to be Neet when they leave school, many opting out earlier through absence from schools they hate. Those already lacking support in their early years, not ready to learn when they reach school, are three times more likely to end up Neet. Every passing year makes catching up less likely."

"The diagnosis is dire. Alan Milburn has published the first part of his forensic report on the lives and chances of young people, their fate after leaving school or college, the inadequacy of their health, education and pastoral care, and the reluctance of employers to hire them. This is a moral crisis, he says."

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