Community Wellbeing

Community wellbeing is the combination of social, economic, environmental, cultural, and political conditions identified by individuals and their communities as essential for them to flourish and fulfill their potential
This covers crime, antisocial behaviour and perceptions of crime.  There is also information on deprivation and poverty, including child poverty within the county. Community wellbeing surveys also provide an insight into the perception of Northumberland by its residents.

Resident insight
Several surveys of Northumberland residents have taken place in the last few years, which included questions on community wellbeing. Information has been collected with regards to the satisfaction with the local area and public services, safety in the local area and antisocial behaviour.
211,000 residents aged 16 and over (79.8%) used the internet, with a further 53,00 (21%) 47,000 who had never used or used it over three months ago (Jan-Mar 16).                                    
14,646 recorded crimes in 2015-16 compared to 10,896 in 2014-15. 
There were 11,606 incidents of antisocial behaviour in 2015-16, a reduction in the figure of 13,370 for the previous year.
Deliberate fires – 546 in 2014-15 which was less than the figure of 636 in 2015-16.
Government figures show that there were 1,065 casualties of road traffic accidents in 2015, compared to 1,087 in 2014.  

 
There were 25,680 benefit claimants (13.4%) aged 16 to 64 in November 2015
The Index of Multiple Deprivation 2015 is the official measure of relative deprivation for small areas. It ranks every small area in England from 1 (most deprived area) to 32,844 (least deprived area).  Data and rankings are available at LSOA level, as well as local authority areas in England.
Child poverty is calculated using a number of different factors, but the most widely used is the proportion of children in low income families. This is the proportion of children living in families either in receiptof out-of-work benefits or in receipt of tax credits with a reported income which is less than 60% of the national median income. Statistics relating to child poverty can be found on the Local Authority Interactive Tool
Fuel poverty in England is measured using the Low Income High Costs (LIHC) indicator. Under the LIHC indicator, a household is considered to be fuel poor if:
•      they have required fuel costs that are above average (the national median level)
•      were they to spend that amount, they would be left with a residual income below the official poverty line

England
In 2015, the number of households in fuel poverty in England was estimated at 2.5 million, representing approximately 11 per cent of all English households. This is a slight increase compared to 2014.
 
The average fuel poverty gap (the amount needed to meet the fuel poverty threshold) was estimated to be £353 and the aggregate fuel poverty gap across all fuel poor households was £884 million. These have stayed constant since the previous year.
 
In 2015, 7.8 per cent of fuel poor households were living in a property with an fuel poverty energy efficiency rating of band A, B or C compared to 1.5 per cent in 2010.
 
Northumberland
Fuel Poverty in 2015
  Estimated number of households Estimated number of fuel poverty households % households which are in fuel poverty
Northumberland 140,543 18,389 13.1
North East 1,146,083 151,942 113.3
 
Change in fuel poverty - % of households by year
  2014 2013 2012 2011
Northumberland 13.3 11.4 11.8 12.7
North East 12.2 11.8 11.6 12.4
 
In Northumberland in 2014, 13.3% of households were in fuel poverty. which was higher than the North East figure of 12.2.