The UK government has told councils and schools to get their act together when it comes to tracking teenagers who might drop out of work or education, admitting that thousands have simply fallen off the radar. Official figures released Thursday reveal that 32,100 young people aged 16 to 17 in England are classified as NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) but unaccounted for by local authorities - which is a fancy way of saying no one knows where they are or what they're doing. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is now writing to all councils demanding improvements, with a special side-eye to 26 councils that don't know the status of 3% or more of their teens. North Lincolnshire council, for example, is missing info on nearly half its 16- and 17-year-olds, while Dudley in the West Midlands has lost track of over one in five. By contrast, London boroughs like Barnet and Ealing are practically omniscient, missing fewer than one in 50. The government is also publishing new guidance for schools to help spot potential dropouts before they vanish, because apparently that wasn't already standard practice. A report from former health secretary Alan Milburn in May warned of a 'lost generation' as NEET numbers topped 1 million, and overall official stats show about 57,000 16- and 17-year-olds are NEET. Phillipson called it 'one of the defining challenges of this government,' adding that accurate tracking 'is not a box-ticking exercise, it's the difference between a young person getting support early or falling through the cracks entirely.' In other words: please stop losing teenagers.