NORTH Yorkshire has the fifth worst-funded police force in the country, official Government statistics revealed.

The grant funding which is to be paid to the county next year is the equivalent of £95.88 per person.

This an increase of £4.07 on the current financial year - but still leaves the police lagging behind 38 of the country's 43 police forces.

In London, the police will receive £275.43 per head of population next year, according to statistics included in a written parliamentary answer.

York MP Hugh Bayley said the county was in the process of recovering from historic under-funding.

He said: "The level of funding reflects the fact that, between 1979 and the late 1980s, North Yorkshire County Council refused to bid for additional police officers because they did not want to put up the rates to help pay for them.

"North Yorkshire was one of only two authorities which did not have an increase in police numbers between 1970 and 1997.

"We have got a lot of catching up to do and that is now starting to happen."

Last week, it was revealed the number of bobbies in the county has increased by 84 in the past six months - the largest percentage hike in the country.

The total size of the county's police force is now 1,390, up by 6.5 per cent.

The national increase over the same period - March to September this year - is only 1.2 per cent.

Opposition MPs have warned of the need to pour resources into police recruitment to prevent the figures going into decline.

Vale of York MP Anne Mcintosh expects to see a record number of retirements approaching as many senior police officers are coming to the end of their careers.

She pointed out it was vital to have new recruits to replace them.

- Haltemprice and Howden Conservative MP David Davis has claimed that Humberside Police faces a funding cut of two per cent in real terms for 2002-03, saying the force's Police Funding Allocation from the Government is the joint lowest for England and Wales.

Updated: 11:49 Friday, December 28, 2001