The Police Crime Commissioner for Hertfordshire has denied he “misled” the county council over the number of losses to constabulary staff since he was appointed five years ago.

David Lloyd was recently challenged at a Community Safety and Waste Management meeting by Paul Zukowskyj, the Liberal Democrat shadow cabinet member for resources, about the loss of police officers and PCSO’s since 2012.

Mr Zukowski revealed Government data showed a fall in constabulary staff from 3729 FTE in 2012 to 3398 FTE in 2017.

But during the meeting, Mr Lloyd stated that the staff numbers appeared to have fallen much more than they actually had due to “the establishment of cross-county collaborative units and redeployment of staff to them”.

Mr Zukowski said: “It would appear Mr Lloyd is in denial about the scale of his cuts to our police service, to the point where he appears to be willing to mislead community representatives when they ask a simple question.

“He should be under no illusions about the quality of service we get, the recent PEEL rating of ‘requires improvement’ in keeping residents safe should say everything Mr Lloyd needs to hear about his performance in this role.

“I have to question Mr Lloyd’s fitness to continue the role he currently has, let alone his fitness to also take over the Fire and Rescue service. He should consider his position carefully.”

However, Mr Lloyd responded that these claims were “false”.

He said: “Any suggestion I misled the council is false. In the meeting the article relates to, I did not make any reference to total overall workforce numbers – a point I made clear to the councillor at the time.

“I was asked about neighbourhood policing and referred to having protected the model, where policing teams are based on the districts in the county. This has been praised by HMIC and officer numbers remain broadly the same as they were in 2013, the point at which I had responsibility for the budget.

“There were 1953 police officers in 2013, and the most recent figures published by the Home Office show there are now 1952. I have always said I would protect the front line of policing, and, in the face of a reduced budget from central government, I have done that.”