THE latest health check on the state of Craven's population shows that the district is in comparatively fine fettle.

Craven ranks as significantly better than the average for England in most categories and only below the national average in one - the treatment of drug misuse.

Here Craven is near the top of the scale with more than double the national average of people in contact with drug treatment services. But that is due more to the effective way in which drug users are referred to agencies for treatment than an indication that Craven has a serious drug problem.

The overall picture is of a community which lives longer, is better educated, has little contact with violent crime and feels in better health than the average.

The details are captured in the first Public Health Annual Report carried out by the new North Yorkshire Primary Care Trust, which came into being in October and covers several areas of health and healthy behaviour.

Much of North Yorkshire enjoys better health than the England average but there are differences. For example, Craven is right on the England average for levels of obesity, but Ryedale, Scarborough and Selby are significantly above.

Craven is significantly better than the England average in the following categories: * The amount of poor quality local authority housing * GCSE results * The level of violent crime * The number of non-smokers * Healthy eating (five portions of fruit and vegetables a day) * The level of teenage pregnancies * Male and female life expectancy * The number of deaths attributable to smoking * Early deaths from cancer, heart disease and stroke disease * The numbers feeling "in poor health"

* The number of alcohol related hospital stays * The number of people with diabetes and the number of children with tooth decay.

Craven is not significantly different from the England average in: * The amount of binge drinking * Infant mortality * Deaths and injuries on the roads * Treatment of mental health.

It was in the area of drug misuse that Craven was found to be significantly worse than average.

The report compiles the number of residents in each local authority area aged 15-44 who are in contact with drug treatment services. The England average is just below 750 per 100,000.

In Craven that figure is more than doubled, more than 1,500 per 100,000 - by far the highest in North Yorkshire, with only York, at around 800, also above the national average. In Richmondshire, for example, the number is just below 250 per 100,000.

The report warns that Craven mights just be more effective at identifying and treating people who misuse drugs.

It states: "A high number of residents aged 15-44 per 100,000 population in contact with drug treatment services was highlighted in Craven. A high rate of drug users in treatment indicates that there is a significant problem with drug misuse in the community.

"However, the relationship is complex and influenced by multiple factors including the actual prevalence of drug misuse in the community, the effectiveness with which local partners can identify drug misusers and refer them to the drug intervention services and the efficiency with which the drug intervention services and enrol and retain identified drug misusers referred to them."

Gabrielle Epstein, director of North Yorkshire and City of York Drug Action Teams said Craven was not an identified drugs hot spot.

She said the figures could be construed as good news, in that Craven was identifying and dealing effectively with drug users.

"The number of people in treatment impacts directly on crime reduction," she said.

"There are very good treatment services in Craven, in effect everyone who needs treatment is getting it," she said. If pressed she would say that the number of drug users was static and in decline.

She said there was a good interaction between the agencies, the council and the police in Craven to tackle the problems of drug abuse.

"There is nothing which suggests that drug misuse in Craven is any worse than the rest of North Yorkshire, but there is evidence that Craven is doing well tackling it effectively," she said.

Despite Craven's grammar schools finishing at the top of all school league tables, the district is not the star performer in the county. It lies midway in the table of local authorities' percentage of 15-year-olds with five or more A-C passes at GCSE level.

Top is Harrogate, followed by Hambleton, Selby and then Craven. Behind it comes Ryedale, York, Richmondshire and finally Scarborough.

The statistics confirm the police assertion that Craven, and North Yorkshire, are relatively safe places to live. On average there are 19.59 crimes of violence - which covers a wide range of offences including child cruelty, harassment and possession of weapons - per 1,000 population. Both York and Scarborough exceed this average but Craven, with just under 15 violent crimes per 1,000 population, is significantly below the national average.

It is however, worse than the figures for Harrogate, Richmondshire, Ryedale and Hambleton, with less than 10 per 1,000 in the latter two districts.