Children & Young People

The purpose of the Children and Young People Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) section is to support the work of the Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board by summarising key local needs, and services, and providing a series of evidence-based priorities to improve the health of the local population of people aged 0-19. It acts as a useful reference to inform high quality and co-ordinated local commissioning and provision of services shaped to the needs of their users, as well as to inform the wider council and members of the public.

It sets out the key needs and issues of the local population, and makes a series of evidence-based recommendations to improve health and wellbeing, and to reduce inequalities. Bedford Borough’s overall score for deprivation (using the 2019 Index of Multiple Deprivation) relative to all other local authorities in England, puts it in the 4th least deprived decile. Where possible, Bedford Borough is compared to local authorities with similar levels of deprivation (e.g. Derbyshire, Kent, Milton Keynes, Reading and Suffolk).¹

Timeliness of data

The data featured is for the last applicable full year (calendar, academic or business) prior to publication, unless otherwise stated. The detailed analysis was published in 2023, meaning the data is predominantly from 2022. For a summary of recent data, see the Dashboard, which was published in July 2026. In the Dashboard, Bedford Borough is compared to local authorities with similar levels of deprivation based on the 2025 Index of Multiple Deprivation. It remained in the 4th least deprived decile and similar local authorities included Derbyshire, Essex, Milton Keynes, Reading and Suffolk).²

Finding the information you need

Executive summary

A high-level summary of the major data and policy trends associated with pregnancy, birth, the early development and school years of Bedford’s children and young people. This includes:

A high level summary of the local picture for Children and Young people, followed by summary of each individual section
Snapshot infographics featuring the most significant measures of the health and well-being of the .
Priority actions that explain the requirements needed to bring about the changes identified to improve health outcomes for the older people of Bedford Borough.

Detailed analysis

This section includes further analyses the factors that impact on the health of children and young people by life stage:

Stage 1: Healthy Pregnancy, which includes: smoking, obesity, mental health and teenage parents, as well as access to maternity care and infant mortality.
Stage 2: Healthy Birth and Early Years, which examines breastfeeding, development to the age of 5, hospital admissions, adverse childhood experiences and preventable diseases.
Stage 3: School-Aged Years. This covers excess weight, vaccinations, health-affecting risk-taking behaviours, as well as Mental health, LGBTQ+ and personal, social and health education.

There is also a detailed analysis of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) which examines the local education, social care and health needs of children and young people with SEND.

Also look out for:

This includes both the direct impact of COVID on key health-related indicators, and the indirect impact on wider determinants.

These are high level objectives that have previously been identified as priorities and that remain important to delivering better health outcomes for the children and young people of Bedford Borough.

These are more specific requirements that are needed to bring about the changes needed to improve health outcomes for Bedford Borough’s children and young people.

We welcome your feedback on what you find useful and what other information you think would help understanding this important subject. Please contact us on [email protected]

Children & Young People

The background

Timeliness of data

Finding the information you need

Executive summary

Detailed analysis

Also look out for:

The impact of COVID

Areas of continued focus

Priority actions

References