A PLAN to improve the lives of youngsters in Worcestershire has made steady progress in six months.

A review of Worcestershire Children and Young People's Plan has revealed strides forward in health, education, awareness of bullying, domestic violence and homelessness.

The report, by the Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership, shows the percentage of youngsters who achieved five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C has increased from 56.3 per cent to 57.6 per cent, although this is below the 62 per cent target.

A total of 159 schools have achieved Healthy Schools status - exceeding the target of 140. The fight against sexually transmitted diseases has also advanced with a pilot scheme for chlamydia screening, which started mid-July. In 2006/2007 3,946 vulnerable youngsters received targeted substance misuse education, compared with 3,078 the previous year and access to mental health advice has also improved.

Speaking about the plan Geoff Taylor-Smith, head of community partnership for children's services at the county council, said: "What we have identified is that these are, if you like, the gaps and high priority needs that need to be addressed for children and young people.

"This is a single strategic plan for all local services which enables all activities to be co-ordinated so that we can improve outcomes for children and young people and make their lives better." The report, which details the progress between November 2006 to May 2007, shows there is an increased awareness about bullying and its impact.

There has also been a decrease in the number of families with children who were unintentionally homeless, from 550 in 2005/6 to 416 in 2006/7.

Over the next year the partnership, which includes the county and district councils and Worcestershire Primary Care Trust, plans to improve sex and relationship education in schools.

It wants to improve the systems for collecting and recording incidents of bullying to ensure consistent reporting and form a strategy to reduce childhood injuries.

In education there are ambitions to cut the number of Notice to Improve schools.