Theresa May’s time in office has seen recorded crime increase, school grades drop, and cancer treatment waiting times increase in Leeds.
Prime Minister Theresa Mayhas served just under three years in office - having gained the keys to Number 10 back in July 2016.
We looked over the numbers to see how Leeds was doing in five key areas - crime, education, the NHS, employment and homelessness - as close as possible to the time Theresa May was sworn in, and compared them to the latest figures.
The figures show our area moving backwards in many areas - though in others, such as unemployment, progress has been made.
Crime
According to Home Office police recorded crime figures, there were 210,080 crimes in the West Yorkshire police area in the year to June 2016 -
the month before Theresa May assumed office.
Some 59,295 of those were violent and sexual offences.
According to the latest figures published by the Home Office this had risen to 296,283 overall crimes in the 12 months to March this year -
115,167 of which were violent or sexual offences.
The volume of police recorded crime has increased over recent years - but this is due to continuing improvements to recording processes and
practices, and more victims reporting crime, as well as some genuine increases in crime.
It is worth noting that police recorded crime is not the only way of measuring crime - the Crime Survey for England and Wales also does this - and
has shown a national figure of 6,529,000 in March 2016, falling to 6,431,000 in the year to March 2019.
That excludes cases of fraud and computer misuse.
Education
Attainment 8 is the new system of school performance introduced in 2016.
It is calculated by adding up the points achieved in students’ eight English Baccalaureate subjects taken at GCSE, and dividing by 10.
Government figures show that in 2015/16, the average Attainment 8 score per pupil in Leeds was 48.4.
This fell to 45.1 the year after, and 44.6 in 2017/18 (the latest figures).
Across England as a whole, the average score fell from 48.5 in 2015/16 to 44.3 in 2017/18.
Looking at Ofsted figures, 87 per cent of state funded schools in Leeds were ranked good or outstanding at August 31, 2016 (the month after
Theresa May became PM).
This had fallen to 77 per cent as of March this year.
NHS and Care
Looking at cancer waiting times, 74.0 per cent of patients in Leeds CCG had a two month wait between their urgent GP referral and treatment in May 2019.
That’s lower than the NHS operational standard of 85 per cent.
It is also far lower than the levels seen when Theresa May took power.
In July 2016, 96.9 per cent of patients in Leeds North CCG were treated within two months, as were 83.3 per cent in Leeds West CCG and 82.4
at Leeds South and West CCG (these later merged together).
However, A&E performance has improved slightly.
In July 2016 86.8 per cent of all A&E patients at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust were seen within four hours - however, this had risen to 88.2 per cent in June this year.
Looking at care providers in our area - which includes nursing and care homes - the overall quality of service has risen since July 2016.
Back then, 67 per cent of care locations in Leeds were rated good or outstanding by the Care and Quality Commission.
That had risen to 85 per cent by June 3 this year.
Unemployment
One statistic the Conservative government are happy to repeat is the unemployment rate.
Looking nationally, the latest figures show the unemployment rate was at 3.8 per cent - its lowest since October and December 1974.
According to the Office for National Statistics Leeds is among areas that have seen a drop - with 25,100 unemployed when Theresa May took
power in 2016, falling to 16,300 at the end of March this year.
That means the unemployment rate in Leeds is 3.9 per cent - down from 6.1 per cent.
Homelessness
The government changed the way it recorded statutory homelessness back in April 2018 - meaning we can no longer compare current statistics
to ones published before that date.
Additionally, many councils have changed the way that they record rough sleeping, moving from an estimate to a count of rough sleepers on a
single night - which critics have argued hides the true scale of the problem.
One homelessness statistic that remains broadly comparable is the number of households being housed in temporary accommodation.
Government figures show there were 64 Leeds households in temporary accommodation between July-September 2016, compared to 42 in
September 2018 - meaning there has been a decrease of 34 per cent.
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