For most people the progression from school to further education or work is a natural process, and the relatively low unemployment rates across the country suggest that it is a more familiar pattern than used to be the case.

But clearly there are still many who slip through the net. In Bradford that situation is one of the worst in the country, with 13.2 per cent of all those aged between 16 and 18 not in education, employment or training. At the moment that amounts to 1,587 people and is almost double the national average. And the figure does not include those school leavers who have just completed their GCSE, GNVQ and A-level exams this summer.

Many of these young people will have struggled in an academic environment and have failed, for whatever reason, to achieve the sort of standard that would find them ready employment. If nothing is done to help them, there is a chance that many will stay outside the loop permanently. The longer they are out of useful employment - be that work, education or training - the harder it is to get into it.

It is from these roots that disaffection, crime, drug taking and general yobbery can emerge. So it is therefore vitally important that as much as possible is done to prevent these young people becoming society's next generation of outsiders.

The two events being staged by Careers Bradford this week, at Valley Parade and Cougar Park, deserve widespread support - not least from the young people they are targeting who hopefully will turn up in large numbers to find out what is available and how they can access it.