Hertfordshire's top cop has given an assurance that the force has made "really, really strong" progress in the licensing of firearms, months after being slammed by inspectors.

At the start of this year Hertfordshire Constabulary – alongside forces in Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire – were criticised for the backlog in the processing of firearms applications.

But speaking at police and crime commissioner Jonathan Ash-Edwards' latest monthly accountability and performance meeting, Chief Constable Andy Prophet highlighted the progress that had been made.

As of September 30 there were 239 outstanding applications for firearms licence renewals compared to the 'thousands' there had been in the past.

Of those 239, he said 127 were still within the national standard of 120 days. Of the new applications lodged, 86 were within the 120-day timeframe, but 600 were in excess of that.

The number of outstanding new applications remained similar to the 714 at the beginning of the year.

Mr Prophet said the constabulary's focus had been on reducing the number of renewals, rather than new applications. He expected the number of outstanding new applications to reduce too.

He said: "In the coming months I expect to see the new grants start to come down as well, significantly, because we're on top of the renewals work. We prioritize the renewals before the new grants.

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"Overall numbers are significantly reduced. They're being processed more quickly.

"And I'm confident that firearms holders are seeing that benefit, feeling that benefit – not only because we're getting [fewer] concerns expressed to us, but I'm actually getting notes and letters of thanks now for the pace with which we are actually doing this."

Mr Ash-Edwards highlighted the use of temporary permits, issued when a firearm renewal had not been completed.

Mr Prophet said the force had introduced temporary permits to manage outstanding demand "when it was at its worst" in an attempt to reduce the impact on firearms licence owners.

He told the commissioner the number of temporary permits had reduced from 467 to 37, as of the end of September, and that by the end of October there would be none.

"They were a suboptimal, but necessary solution," he said. "We don't want in future to be issuing temporary permits if we can possibly avoid it. We're well on the way to achieving that."