Just 13 per cent of West Midlands Police staff are minorities

Official ONS figures show that the West Midlands region is made up of 29.9 per cent BAME, yet of the officers the force recruited during the 2014/15 financial year, only 13 per cent were BAME.

Also in a disparity to the make up of the region, only 17.8 per cent of applicants for roles at the force between 2006 and 2014 were BAME.

As a whole, West Midlands Police is only made up of 8.7 per cent BAME as revealed by the Express & Star recently, with just 634 out of 7,249 West Midlands Police officers being from a black or minority ethnic backgrounds.

Compared to the rest of the UK, West Midlands Police is one of the least representative police forces despite being nominated for a diversity award last year.

Hannah Fitzgerald, spokesperson for West Midlands Police, said: "The force has worked hard to improve recruitment selection processes to attract the best candidates from all backgrounds. Particular effort has been made supporting applicants from BAME communities."

"Recent media reports have highlighted on-going issues with recruiting officers from all of our communities. The force clearly needs to up its game. Since I called on West Midlands Police to improve its performance in this area in April, much effort has been made, but progress has been at a glacial pace.

"I recently re-affirmed my commitment to complete the recruitment of 450 police officers. We have recruited just over half of that number so far. With that in mind it is even more important than ever that the police make even more substantial changes with the next half and ensure that people from all of our communities are applying to be officers.

She added that the force's latest intake in November was around one-third BAME.

Staffordshire police refused to release any of the information when asked via a Freedom of Information request.

In the Met 28.1 per cent of applicants were BAME backgrounds, but they only made up for 17 per cent of appointments representing a 40.2 per cent BAME region.

Responding to the figures, the National Police Chief's Council workforce lead, Chief Constable Giles York, said: "Police chiefs have been vocal about the operational need for a workforce that reflects the make-up of our communities because we understand the benefits of a diverse workforce in creating better cohesion with the public that we serve.

"The rate of officer recruitment from black and minority ethnic communities is increasing; in recent years it has risen from 3.6 per cent in 2006 to 5.5 per cent in 2015. Forces have encouraged more black and ethnic minority people to join the police as officers, members of the Special Constabulary or as volunteers. We've also involved community representatives in advisory groups and panels so their voices are heard."

In the past West Midlands Police deputy chief constable Dave Thompson, who is to become the force's Chief Constable this year, said 'good strides' were being made to increase the number of officers from minority backgrounds.

In a speech in Birmingham recently, Home Secretary Theresa May criticised the situation as 'simply not good enough'.