Warwickshire Police's response when children are reported missing is "inconsistent", a re-inspection has found.

The Leek Wootton-based force was also found to not "focus well enough" on children's welfare when they are arrested and "keeps them at the police station after charge when it shouldn't" a report by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) said.

Published yesterday (June 6), the report follows a routine reinspection of Warwickshire Police this spring.

Last February HMICFRS made eight recommendations for how the force could improve, before returning this year to see what progress had been made.

And while the report said there is still work to be done, it did praise Warwickshire Police on the progress it has made over the past 12 months.

"We were pleased to see that Warwickshire Police has committed considerable time, resources and energy to improving outcomes for children and making changes in line with our recommendations," the report said.

"It has carried out a review of its structures and staffing levels and has markedly increased the number of investigators dealing with child abuse investigations.

"The force has provided specialist training to support these officers and staff. And it has produced guidance documents and videos for a variety of child protection issues."

Particular improvements were noted in:

• Taking prompt action when investigating online child sexual abuse and exploitation;
• Managing registered sex offenders and sharing information with frontline staff;
• Sharing information with statutory safeguarding partners about risks to children; and
• The use and recording of police protection powers.

Following the publication Det Spt Pete Hill said: "We are pleased the inspection recognised much of the good work already going on in Warwickshire and the report acknowledges our commitment to child protection and to improving our services for vulnerable children.

"We had previously developed a robust action plan to address the areas for improvement around outcomes for children identified by the inspectors and many of these have already begun to be implemented by the force.

"We have increased the number of resources within the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Team (OCSET) to enable us to deal with the increase in online offending that we and many forces across the country are experiencing.

"The force has also invested significant resources in establishing dedicated chid protection teams across the county such as our Child Abuse, Trafficking and Exploitation (CATE) team. The creation of these specialist teams has no doubt improved the quality of the most serious child protection investigations."

He also said the force "acknowledged there was more to be done" and had already taken steps to improve the way it works.

Read the full report here.