North West Leicestershire District Council has made the top 10 strongest performing East Midlands local authorities for overall prosperity, according to the Legatum Institute's UK Prosperity Index.

The council ranks 10th in the region - with Rutland taking top spot and Harborough second.

North West Leicestershire is ranked 96th - out of 379 - in the country according to the index, which was published last Thursday (May 13).

It uses 256 indicators based on the latest available data (predominantly from before Covid-19 struck) to provide a comprehensive assessment of institutional, economic, and social wellbeing across the country's local authorities.

The Index will be used to track the Government's 'levelling-up agenda' and hold decision-makers to account for improving the prosperity of all regions of the UK.

It reveals that the East Midlands is the fifth most prosperous region of the UK, with low levels of crime and poverty, and strong living standards.

However, the region performs below average on quality of health and education.

The Index shows that the East Midlands' key strengths are:

• Safe and secure communities: the region has low levels of crime, especially in rural areas and the North Midlands, with a homicide rate of just 9.1 per 100,000 people compared to the national average of 11.2.

• An investment environment that is improving, in contrast to a national decline: a quarter (25 per cent) of small businesses in the region want financing for new processes, up from eight per cent a few years ago.

• Good conditions for local businesses: there is a healthy labour market with only 30 per cent of vacancies classified as 'hard-to-fill', the lowest rate in the UK. Nottingham and Derby typify some of the most supportive business environments in the region, with few frustrations around tax compliance or local government restrictions.

• Strong living conditions: there are low levels of poverty and only one per cent of residents do not have access to a bank account.

However, the Index also reveals that there are opportunities for the East Midlands to 'level-up', including:

• Continuing to improve infrastructure: the region does not have strong transport connections, in particular across rural areas and the North Midlands, and the nearest major train station is an average of 76 minutes away by public transport from homes in the East Midlands, compared to the UK average of 59 minutes.

• Improving the quality of the local economy: only eight per cent of businesses in the East Midlands are high-tech, compared to the UK average of 10 per cent, and the region has one of the lowest export turnovers for small businesses in the country.  

• Improving healthcare systems: just 73 per cent of A&E attendances are dealt with in four hours compared to the national average of 79 per cent. Residents in rural areas of the East Midlands generally enjoy better health than those in urban areas; for instance, the suicide mortality rate is more than twice as high in Lincoln and Nottingham than in rural Harborough.

•Improving performance on education, especially in urban areas: less than 40 per cent of low-income pupils pass GCSEs in English and Maths, one of the lowest rates in the UK.