Key Findings
In this section, we provide a brief overview of how this year’s statistics compare to last year’s
Positive Progress
- 16-17 year olds Not in Education, Employment or Training in York is lower than the national average, for the first time since we began reporting on this issue.
Going Backwards
- Hate Crime recorded by North Yorkshire Police increased.
- Child Poverty has increased in 21 out of 22 York wards; over 10,000 of the city’s children are now considered to be living in poverty.
- The number of households (with and without children) who are living in temporary accommodation is increasing.
- The percentage of social care users who report having as much social contact as they would like has fallen for the second year running.
Little Change
- The proportion of children achieving the expected standard of reading, writing and maths at the end of primary school increased, although the disadvantage gap continues to widen.
- The earnings gap has reduced, partly because low wages have increased slightly, but also because median (mid-point) wages have decreased.
Change of Indicator
Ward-level Life Expectancy figures are not updated every year because they change very slowly over time. For this year’s report, for the first time, we explore healthy life expectancy, which is defined by the government as “the average number of years that an individual is expected to live in a state of self-assessed good or very good health”, comparing this to overall life expectancy for males and females living in the city.
Achievements & Impact
In 2019, we continued to build on the momentum created by the 2017 declaration of York as a Human
Rights City. Key developments and activities included:
- Changes to the constitution of the steering group to put civil society organisations more firmly in the driving seat
- Working with the Youth Council to create a human rights indicator report based on the priorities of young people in York
- Continuing participation and engagement work with marginalised and disadvantaged groups through our Community Voices programme, which is currently investigating personal and institutional responses to hate crime
- Exploring the need for, and feasibility of, a Disability Human Rights Forum for York
- Continuing support for York International Women’s Week and York International Disabled People’s Week, both of which go from strength to strength
- Continuing our work in secondary schools in partnership with the Independent State Schools Partnership through Opinionate Workshops
- Providing information and support to other cities, both nationally and internationally, as they consider becoming Human Rights Cities
