The North-East is one of the safest places to live in the country, new crime figures have revealed.

Levels of serious crime in both Northumbria and North Yorkshire police force areas are significantly lower than the national average.

Though violent crime rose by 0.1 per cent in Northumbria it was still lower than the national rise of 9%.

Offences such as robbery, house burglary and car theft fell by higher levels in the force area than elsewhere in the country according to figures released by the Home Office which cover the period from April to June 2003.

Robbery in North Yorkshire remains rare with 107 offences committed during the quarter and in Northumbria the robbery rate was down 20.9 per cent.

Crime figures for criminal damage in North Yorkshire rose from 3,349 last year to 3,472.

The Home Office said the new system for recording crime which was introduced a year ago, the National Crime Recording Standard, may have impacted on the figures.

In Northumbria the number of house burglaries fell by 6.2 per cent compared with the national figure of 4 per cent.

Car theft fell by a further 8 per cent compared with the same months in 2002.

Northumbria Police Chief Constable Christian Strachan said officers would continue to seek ways to improve.

He said: "Northumbria hasn't reached this position by being complacent,. We work hard to establish meaningful relationships with other agencies, believe that community beat managers with local responsibility are the foundation of successful policing and are continually seeking other ways who which to improve our level of service."

In North Yorkshire there were 119 less house burglaries than the previous year with 1,140 crimes being committed though incidents of car crime rose slightly.

The force's Operation Delivery has proved successful with 1,000 extra arrests in its first month, many for burglary.