New figures from Lancashire Constabulary have cast into light the amount of money that goes adrift as a result of police officers not turning up to training sessions.

While the force has announced that £6 million has been made available to train its officers over the next financial year, the spotlight has fallen on the fact that 23 per cent of courses paid for by the force were not attended last year.

According to Geoffrey Roper, a member of Lancashire Police Authority with special responsibility for information technology, this translates into a waste of around £1.4 million.

This Is Lancashire quotes him as saying: "I think some sanctions need to be put in place. I don't see what sanctions are currently in place for people who book courses then don't turn up.

"We need to have sensible means of saying that if you want this provision you can have it, but it's not a freebie, if you don't use it then that way we are going to recover any money that would previously have been lost. It has got to be a stick and a carrot. At the moment it looks like the carrots aren't working so we have to use the stick."

Local chief constable Steve Finnegan stressed that the current system is under review but that "operational demands" can prevent officers from attending courses at given moments. He said that "room for manoeuvre" is important for a police force when allocating time and money for training.