FUNDING of nearly £3million for Welsh police forces to train new recruits has still not been delivered, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent has warned.

The cash has been raised by contributions to the apprenticeship levy, a new way of funding training for apprentices including new police officers.

A total of £2.8million has been allocated for the four police forces in Wales, including around £500,000 for Gwent Police.

The UK government says the funds are paid back to the Welsh Government to administer.

But the Welsh Government says the levy has not provided any “significant additional funding” for Wales.

At a meeting of the Gwent Police and Crime Panel on Friday, PCC Jeff Cuthbert urged UK and Welsh government officials to resolve the issue, asking "Where's our money?"

“Our argument is to both the Welsh Government and the home office – please sort it out,” he said.

“We cannot tolerate the situation where police officers in Wales could be trained and qualified to a lower level of professionalism than their colleagues in England.

“That is not to the advantage of English forces either.”

Mr Cuthbert said it was incumbent on the home office to “take the initiative” on the issue as policing is a non-devolved issue.

He warned that if the cash is not found, money would have to be used from another area of policing, or officers would be trained to a lower level.

“Neither are acceptable,” he told the panel.

Mr Cuthbert said discussions are ongoing between the two governments and that he hoped “common sense” would prevail.

But he warned that the dispute “cannot continue” and urged for a solution to be found quickly.

“We don’t care where it (the money) is as long as we’ve got it,” he said.

“It’s got to be somewhere. We just want access to it so we can do what we are meant to do with it – train our officers and get the best recruits we can.”

The crime panel resolved to write to the home office supporting the PCC’s concerns about the issue.

Previously the Police Federation of England and Wales raised concerns around the issue.

Sam Roberts, a spokesman for the organisation, said: “My increasing concern is that the forces in Wales, having made the levy payments during the course of the last year, will now have to make up any shortfall in training funding that the levy was supposed to provide.”

A UK government spokeswoman said: "The UK Government wants to ensure the best possible outcome for forces across England and Wales and the College of Policing, and departments are currently in discussion with the Welsh Government in order to achieve this."

A Welsh Government spokeswoman said the apprenticeship levy has not provided any significant additional funding for Wales.

The spokeswoman added: "Any Barnett consequential received as a result of the introduction of the levy has been offset by the consequential of cuts to existing UK government apprenticeship programmes, which we estimate be around £90m."