Police ‘failing to hit two-minute target on answering calls to 101’

NORTH YORKSHIRE Police are consistently missing targets to answer all 101 calls within two minutes, a report from the region’s new Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has revealed.

Just 48.28 per cent of calls to the non-emergency line were answered within two minutes between July and December 2021, the report shows.

Some 7.27 per cent of callers ringing the line had to wait for longer than 15 minutes for their call to be answered in the same period.

The previous target set by North Yorkshire Police was to answer calls within one minute but the force has extended that target to two minutes in a move that chiefs say brings the force in line with the national picture. Almost 30 per cent of callers (29.88 per cent) had their call answered within five seconds, the report showed, but Zoe Metcalfe, inset, the Conservative Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, has pointed to an increase in the number of calls made to 999 as the reason targets have been missed.

Calls to the emergency number rose last year in North Yorkshire, with a 40 per cent increase in November 2021.

July had the largest number of calls to the control room, with 38,227 recorded across all numbers.

The average time to answer a 999 call rose to 25 seconds in July 2021, the report shows.

Fewer than half of calls (46.57 per cent) to 999 were answered in less than five seconds. The report read: “The increase in volume of 999 calls has had a negative impact on call-handling performance for 101 as the 999 calls have to be prioritised.”

The report’s findings will be discussed at a meeting of the Police, Fire and Crime Panel next week.

Staffing figures in the report show that North Yorkshire Police force control room is operating under capacity. While there is a budget for 60 full-time dispatchers, 57 are currently on the payroll.

And 73 communications staff are on the payroll compared to a budget that allows for 86 full-time equivalent staff.

The report said: “Covid measures have reduced the numbers that can be trained per intake, so fewer recruits have been taken on in the last year.

“A training plan for 2022/23 has been developed and there are intakes planned for March, June, September and December 2022.”

Harrogate Borough Councillor Ms Metcalfe was elected last year after a by-election triggered by the resignation of Philip Allott following remarks he made regarding the murder of Sarah Everard, who grew up in York.