Hampshire Police is among one of the fittest forces in the country.

Nearly all of its officers have passed new fitness tests which are set to become mandatory in a few weeks time, official figures show.

Of the 801 officers from the county’s finest who have taken the test only five have fallen short of the required level – at 0.6%.

It is in stark contrast to the some of the other police forces across the country with North Yorkshire scoring a failure rate of 16.2%.

The new fitness testing, which becomes compulsory next month, was brought in after recommendations made by Chief Inspector of Constabulary Tom Winsor.

If an officer fails the fitness test at the first attempt, it is advised that at least two retakes are permitted before forces use “unsatisfactory performance” against the participating officer.

Rose Bartlett, recruitment standards policy manager at the College of Policing, which has released fitness test guidance for forces, said: “The results show that the vast majority of officers tested are fit.

“The new guidance issued to forces has been designed to provide supportive measures to help officers to pass and the college has now commissioned research in order to understand why women and older officers have a lower pass rate.

“The college will continue to monitor the results of police fitness tests and support forces in helping officers to pass.”

More than 350 officers fell short with 2% failing overall in more than 13,000 tests across 32 forces, latest results from the professional standards body the College of Policing said.

After taking part in a 15-metre “bleep” shuttle run test, some 138 of the 10,265 male officers who took part, an average of 1%, and 214 of 3,693 female officers, an average of 6%, were unsuccessful.

Hampshire Constabulary's pass rate was 99.4%.

While North Yorkshire’s failure rate was the highest, Lancashire Constabulary’s rate was 6.4% and South Yorkshire’s 5.4%.

Humberside and Surrey were the only two forces who boasted a 100% pass rates for across all officers.

The Winsor recommendations stated that all officers should be made to take the test annually.

Since the college began collecting results from forces in September 2013 a total of 42,197 officers attended the test and 41,038 passed, giving an overall pass rate of 97%.