West Yorkshire Police have been shown to be lagging behind other forces in tackling burglary and vehicle crime, according to new figures.

However, it has fewer robberies per head of population and brings more Class A drug dealers to justice.

The figures - part of complex police performance monitors published by the Home Office - have met with criticism nationally that they do little to help the public's understanding of policing.

The monitors use scores from five performance areas, including reducing crime and investigating crime and are based on figures from 2001-2002.

The scores are then plotted on diagrams - dubbed 'spidergrams' and developed at a cost of £70,000 - to give an indication of overall performance.

Each police force is compared to those most similar to it and in the case of West Yorkshire that is Great Manchester, Gwent, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire and West Midlands.

The way the figures are published makes it impossible to create a national league table of police forces.

In West Yorkshire, there are 39.1 burglaries for every 1,000 households, compared with an average of 32.6 per l,000 in the five force areas compared. There are also 30.8 vehicle crimes for every 1,000 residents in this area, compared with an average of 26.2 in the other areas.

However, West Yorkshire has fewer robberies with 2.7 per 1,000 residents against an average in comparison areas of 3.4 per 1,000.

North Yorkshire Police were compared to Cumbria, Devon and Cornwall, Dyfed-Powys, Lincolnshire and North Wales, with 15.1 burglaries for every 1,000 households against an average of 10.7 in the other areas and 10.8 vehicle crimes per 1,000 residents against 10.1 elsewhere.

West Yorkshire Police say the force has made substantial inroads into reducing burglaries and vehicle crime in recent years.