THE Government hit back last night at claims by two British police chiefs that their officers were too busy pen-pushing to fight crime.

A spokesman for the Home Office said: "Some paperwork remains an inevitable part of police work but we are always looking for ways to reduce bureaucracy and get more police on to the front line."

He was responding to Bob Quick, Chief Constable of Surrey Police, who said his officers spent just 10% of their time fighting crime and the remaining time on paperwork and other low-level matters.

Mr Quick said Labour's police funding system was forcing him to keep over-qualified officers desk-bound rather than tackling criminals.

His comments came a week after similar grievances were aired by Nottinghamshire's Chief Constable Steve Green.

Mr Green said he was simply not able to cope with the number of murders in Nottinghamshire as he had to keep 500 officers doing clerical duties. A spokeswoman for Surrey Police said that Mr Quick had been speaking in the context of a conference on the Mixed Economy policing project, which was organised by Surrey Police, but sponsored by the Home Office with personal backing from its minister Hazel Blears.

The spokeswoman said the research carried out in the project had uncovered the facts to which Mr Quick referred.

Following Mr Quick's comments, Mr Howard upped the pressure on the Government by saying: "Whether it is in Nottinghamshire, or in Surrey, police across the country are chasing paper, and not criminals. "People want bobbies on the beat, not stuck behind desks."

A Home Office spokesman said in a statement: "Government funding for policing has increased by over £2.3bn in the last three years.

"Driven by record investment we now have historically high numbers of police officers, over 140,000 working with record numbers of police staff, at nearly 69,000 and over 5,000 community support officers to help reduce crime and keep our communities safe.

"The Crime Fighting Fund is a specific government initiative to drive up police numbers and it has been successful in doing so.

Referring to Surrey, the spokesman added: "Total police numbers in Surrey on August 31 2004 were 1,912 police officers - this is 292 more than in March 1997.

"The total number of support staff was 1,318, meaning that there is more than one civilian staff member for every two police officers."