The South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Dr Alan Billings, has responded to new data showing the South Yorkshire Force’s 999 call answer time between November and April was 14 seconds (force data shows this is down to 12 seconds for May), which is outside the 10 second target.

He said: “When people dial 999 it is because they need emergency help quickly. We expect those calls to be answered in less than 10 seconds, which is the national target. Anything above that is a cause for concern.

“999 calls are routed by BT to the appropriate emergency service and that adds some seconds to the time.

“The figures released today show a slight difference between South Yorkshire Police’s data and that held by BT. I understand that the force is working with BT and its providers to understand this.

“I have asked my staff to monitor South Yorkshire Police response times. In particular, we need to understand the time it takes for BT to transfer calls to the police in South Yorkshire.

“The public can be reassured that I will continue to hold the force to the 10 second target and seek regular reports until this is achieved. I know that they are making progress against the 999 target, as the data for this month shows.”

The Home Office information is available here.