CHANGES promised by North Yorkshire Police which aim to improve the ongoing problems in the force control room, have now been brought in.

In recent months, the average time taken to answer 999 calls was 19 seconds, with just 53.4 per cent answered within the target of 10 seconds, and the average time waiting for a non-emergency 101 call to be answered was more than four minutes.

The FCR was also hit with IT problems, leading police to urge the public NOT to phone the non-emergency number on several occasions, as well as an increased number of calls received as part of a national trend.

A force spokeswoman said 999 calls to the FCR increased from 4,911 during January 2017, to 8,551 in August, and calls to 101 have increased from 21,045 in January to 24,017 in August.

Now, police said callers should notice an improvement when attempting to phone police, as changes - reported by The Press in August - have now been introduced.

The changes include the introduction - in August - of an operator service, which takes an average of 324 calls each day, staffed by control room staff, but with 10 new operators due to start work in coming weeks.

A call-back facility has also been introduced on the non-emergency line during times of high demand - introduced on August 30 - which has been used by an average of 115 callers per day, and appears to have led to fewer non-emergency calls being abandoned.

A series of administrative tasks were also removed from the FCR, meaning call takers have 14,000 fewer admin tasks to complete each month.

Deputy Chief Constable Lisa Winward acknowledged call handling speeds had dropped recently, but the changes would "bring call handling times back up to our usual good standard".

She said: "Some of these changes have now come to fruition and callers are already receiving a better service. We know there is still a long way to go, and I thank members of the public for their patience and understanding as we work to bring about these changes, some of which will take time to implement."

Police and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan said the issue of 101 problems had been raised continually with the force, and had become part of a monthly scrutiny meeting.

She said: "I know the Chief Constable understands those concerns and is committed to improving the service as quickly as possible. A number of initiatives are now in place that will address some of the wider problems being faced by the control room, and I will be watching very closely to make sure the service improves as we expect it to."