12% of 999 calls to GMP take over a minute to be answered

MORE than a tenth of all 999 calls to Greater Manchester Police take more than a minute to be answered, according to new data published by the Home Office.

- PAUL BRITTON

Only one police force in the UK is currently meeting a target to answer 90 percent of 999 calls in under 10 seconds, the statistics show.

The figures reveal GMP, which as one of the UK's largest forces would get more calls than the majority of other forces, isn't meeting the target - with 69pc of calls picked up in under 10 seconds, according to the figures. The force's average answering time is 24 seconds.