York Guides

Although the number of households headed by a married couple fell by half a million between 1996 and 2004 to just over 12 million out of a total of 17 million families, they still make up the majority in the country, the Office for National Statistics said yesterday.
Figures from the 2001 census show that in York, 65 per cent of families are married couples with dependent children compared with 60 per cent in Sheffield, 58 per cent in Leeds and 49 per cent in Hull.
Between 1996 and 2004 the number of single-parent and cohabiting couple families increased, to 2.3 million and 2.2 million respectively.
Hull has the second highest percentage of cohabiting couple families in the country, 16.8 per cent, behind Norwich at 17.1 per cent.
The city also has the lowest number of married couples with no children in Yorkshire – 29.2 per cent compared with the highest number in Ryedale, North Yorkshire, (43 per cent).
One in four children in Britain lives in a single-parent family, an increase from one in 14 in 1972.
Figures show that in 2001 London had the most single-parent families. Among those with dependent children, a high proportion of single-parent families also lived in built-up and industrial areas, such as Glasgow and Manchester.
Thirty -hree per cent of families living in Hull are single-parent families – the highest proportion in Yorkshire. The lowest proportion in the region is in Hambleton, North Yorkshire, at 15.7 per cent.
In Leeds 28.8 per cent of families are single parent, in York the figure is 23.1 per cent and in Sheffield 26.2 per cent.
The director of counselling service Relate York, Harrogate and Selby, Joe McGuinness, said: "Divorce statistics often tell a sorry tale, so it is encouraging to see that the vast majority of families are still headed by a married couple, and it probably underlines the importance of the family unit.
"Most people still value the support that family members provide for each other, often in the really difficult times, and a real sense of belonging is especially important for most people.
"However, it is of course the quality of the relationship that really counts. Young people especially thrive in a loving environment whether their parents are married or not, or indeed they are living in a single-parent family. The quality of reassurance and the consistency of the love, guidance, support and encouragement is what will ensure their happiness and well-being."
The number of people living alone in Britain reached seven million in 2001, four times as many as in 1961.
In 2001, 10 per cent of all families with dependent children were step-families – 400,000 were headed by married couples and 300,000 by cohabiting couples.
Cohabiting couples are the youngest families. Half of cohabiting couple families in the UK are headed by a person aged under 35, compared with just over a tenth of married couples.
The report found that Muslim families were most likely to have children. Nearly three quarters (73 per cent) of families headed by a Muslim had at least one dependent child, compared with two-fifths of both Jewish (41 per cent) and Christian (40 per cent) families.