Home Secretary John Reid said he was pleased with progress

Home Office data revealed ethnic officer numbers rose to 3.7% in 2005/06 - still below the 4% target forces were supposed to meet two years earlier.

Extra measures are being place to meet the final 7% target in 2009, the race equality report said.

Home Secretary John Reid said he was pleased progress was continuing.

I am determined that we will not rest on our achievements Home Secretary, John Reid

Across the 43 forces in England and Wales, there were 5,236 black and Asian officers at the end of March last year compared to 4,998 a year earlier, marking an increase of 0.2%.

Mr Reid said: "Achieving diversity in our workforces is vitally important.

"It is essential to improving our understanding of and responsiveness to the communities they serve and to increase confidence in the services we provide.

However, he added, there was a long way to go "and I am determined that we will not rest on our achievements.

"That is why I will make clear to police representatives today that we must work to build on our successes to meet these demanding but realistic targets."

The report also revealed that 7.8% of recruits from the black and Asian communities left the job within six months compared to 4.4% of their white colleagues.

Further measures

And 2.7% of ethnic minority officers with five to 10 years' service left in the year, the report added.

It added that ethnic minority officers in all other periods of service were "slightly" more likely to leave.

A Home Office spokeswoman said it is considering what further measures might be needed if the police are to meet the 2009 target.

Already forces are targeting ethnic minority recruits through advertising in newspapers which are aimed at the black and Asian community and officers have been attending religious and cultural events to try and get more people from ethnic minority groups to consider a career in policing.

In the prison service, ethnic minority staff remained at 5.7% against the 7% target for 2009.