City of York Council's youth offending team (YOT) is one of the best performing in the country and the best in the region, according to new figures.

The team's latest annual performance report shows that the team's overall performance in 2007/2008 rose by 6.2% to 73.3%, compared to 66.1% for the Yorkshire region and 68.3% nationally.

Simon Page, Head of Youth Offending Services said: "Our performance has improved significantly over the past two years and we are now the strongest performing YOT in the region and one of the strongest in the UK.

"We have consistently beaten government targets but what matters most is that we are reducing the level of reoffending by the young people we are responsible for.

"We are successfully enforcing sentences imposed on young people by the courts, getting young offenders into education, training and employment and providing support to them and their families to divert them away from further criminal activity.

"We are also responding to the wishes and needs of victims of youth crime committed by the offenders we supervise, by involving them directly or indirectly to have their say."

The Youth Justice Board's national head of performance, Lucy Dawes, will be visiting York on 3 October. Photographers are invited to the Customer Advice Centre, 10-12 George Hudson Street at 12.30pm where she will be meeting Bill McCarthy, Chief Executive of City of York Council, and Simon Page, Head of the Youth Offending Service.