FEWER young people are offending and re-offending in Worcestershire than neighbouring counties.

New figures show Worcestershire County Council's youth justice system is performing above the national average for the prevention of offending and re-offending by children and young people.

From October 2013 to September 2014, 369 in every100,000 young people in Worcestershire offended for the first time, compared to 408 across West Mercia and 417 nationally.

Only 31.3% of young people re-offended in Worcestershire within one year of receiving a police caution or sentence - the national average is 36 per cent.

Councillor John Campion, Worcestershire County Council's cabinet member for children and families, said: "Supporting young people to stay out of the youth justice system is extremely important and these figures reflect the hard work of the county's youth offending support workers.

"The work we are carrying out with our West Mercia local authority colleagues will enable this service to continue to deliver high quality support to the young people in Worcestershire."

Worcestershire County Council is now working closely with other council's in the West Mercia area to review how youth justice services will be provided in the future.

The establishment of the West Mercia youth offending service at the end of 2012 brought together Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin councils as part of a phased approach to determine a longer-term model for delivery.