Oxfordshire's Chief Constable fears that cuts in basic police training could leave Thames Valley Police having to pick up the bill to get officers up to scratch.

Peter Neyroud criticised proposals to reduce the time spent by rookie officers at training school from 15 to 12 weeks. Police training organisation Centrex, which delivers the courses at 20 training schools around the country, is to have its grant slashed by the Home Office.

Centrex and the Home Office said the severity of cuts has not been confirmed, but Mr Neyroud said it could be "a huge cut" amounting to several million pounds.

Mr Neyroud said Thames Valley Police might have to provide extra training to fill in gaps in officers' knowledge. The force has already set its budget for 2004-05, and is now faced with unforeseen additional costs. Because of a lack of Government cash, it has had to increase its share of the council tax bill by 13.5 per cent, following a 45 per cent increase in 2003-04.

Mr Neyroud called on the Home Office to meet additional costs. He said: "It will be completely unacceptable for central costs to be pushed back on to the local forces.

"The big concern from a Thames Valley point of view is to ensure we get the number of probationers through we need to raise our numbers to our target of 4,117. There's a lot more negotiation to do."

However, he welcomed plans to drop ceremonial drill from Centrex courses.

Emma Terleske, Centrex spokesman said: "A range of options have been explored as to ways in which this part of the probationer training programme can continue to meet the demands of forces, within the challenges imposed by the budget.

"Centrex is currently in consultation with police services to determine the structure of the new 12-week programme."

A Home Office spokesman said the Home Secretary would not accept a reduction in training quality or the number of officers.