FEWER young offenders in Bradford go on to commit further crimes, compared to the national average.

Now Bradford's youth offending team has been praised as "well-performing", in an official inspection of its work.

The team works with offenders aged between 10 and 18 to help prevent further criminal behaviour.

It also offers support to parents and the victims of crime.

On average, around a third (34 per cent) of young offenders in Bradford commit a further crime within a year, new figures show.

This performance is "slightly better than last year and significantly better than the England and Wales average" of 38 per cent, according to the HM Inspectorate of Probation.

It has published a new inspection report into Bradford's service, after examining 33 recent cases involving young offenders.

The report says Bradford has a "well-performing youth offending team with experienced staff and managers who were enthusiastic and committed to delivering high quality services".

It said the team had a good working relationship with the police and in nearly all cases where there was an identifiable victim, the team had worked to manage the risk of harm posed by the young offender.

It said: "Where patterns of offending were entrenched, the youth offending team was able to identify intensive interventions, including daily contact with the child or young person to both challenge their behaviour and constructively occupy their time."

The inspectorate set out two areas for improvement, which highlighted the "insufficient" quality of some reports and a lack of consistency when assessing what risk the young offender posed to others.

The team has welcomed the publication of the report.

Gani Martins, chairman of the youth offending team board and assistant director of children's specialist services, said: "This was a thorough inspection which found that the service has many strengths of which we can be proud and on which we can build.

"Our staff are already working with our partners to address the two areas where improvement is needed."

Councillor Ralph Berry, executive member for health and social care at Bradford Council, said: "This is a very positive report that shows our youth offending team is working well to stop re-offending, safeguard vulnerable young people, support victims and protect the wider public."