THAMES Valley Police has missed a target to answer 90 per cent of 999 calls in under 10 seconds, figures show.

But the force was far from the worst-performing across the country, picking up 83 per cent of its emergency calls within the 10 second window.

Humberside Police came bottom of the leaderboard, with just two per cent of calls answered within the target.

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Thames Valley's Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Barber welcomed the fact the Home Office had published the call waiting times.

“I am pleased that on all of the measures published, Thames Valley is above the national average. Our call handlers work hard to provide the public with an efficient and professional response,” he said.

Mr Barber said his ‘greater focus’ was on improving the 101 non-emergency line. He encouraged people to respond to a nationwide survey about the 101 and 999 numbers.

Nationally, 71 per cent of 999 calls were answered within 10 seconds between November 2021 and April 2022, the Home Office figures showed.

In the Thames Valley, callers were on average waiting 11.3 seconds before their 999 call was answered. Only three per cent of callers were left waiting more than a minute for the phone to be answered by an emergency call handler.

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Ch Supt Fiona Bitters of Thames Valley Police said: “Our highly trained and experienced teams answer emergency 999 calls as quickly as possible, and we regularly review our service.

“We do still get significant amounts of calls to 999 that are not an emergency, and every time this happens someone at risk has to wait longer.”

In the year to April 2022, the force received more than 330,000 calls to 999. That number was said to be growing.

Ms Bitters said: “We closely monitor our performance, and we will always prioritise answering our 999 calls. With such high volumes of calls, it is crucial that 999 is only used when there is immediate threat to life, property, or where a crime is in progress.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel said the public deserved to know that their local police force was ready to ‘leap into action’.

She added: "We can now see where forces are excelling and where vital improvements need to be made.”

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Last month, a report by the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary found that only half of incidents requiring an immediate police response were attended by Thames Valley officers within the 15 minute deadline.

In the 12 months to July 2021, 38 per cent of ‘urgent response’ incidents were attended within the target time of 60 minutes. 

The number of officers across the force was said to be ‘insufficient’ to meet demand.

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This story was written by Tom Seaward. He joined the team in 2021 as Oxfordshire's court and crime reporter.  

To get in touch with him email: Tom.Seaward@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @t_seaward