In response to a written Parliamentary question, David Willetts, shadow work and pensions secretary, was told that 909,230 young people had started the New Deal since it began in 1998.
A spokesman for the Conservative Party said the data showed young people are counted as different individuals each time they return to the scheme. Only 674,000 of the young people started the programme just once.
Willetts also used the latest employment data to back up his calls for a "fresh approach" to youth employment. Published last week, the data shows there are now 1.13 million 16- to 25-year-olds not in education or full-time employment, an increase of 44,000 since Labour came to power in 1997.
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