Armed police officer on duty at Heathrow airport

The government says it is on course to train 5% of police officers to respond to a chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) attack by June.

But Police Federation chairman Jan Berry said the targets for terror awareness training had not been met.

"If something happened now we don't believe we would have that many available to deal with it," she said.

Ms Berry said only between 2.5% and 5% of officers had been trained for CBRN - meaning the 5% target had not yet been met.

Those who had not received specific training needed more awareness of what they were supposed to do, she said.

And those who had been trained in CBRN attacks as long as 18 months ago should be given refresher courses.

'Bureaucratic'

The Police Federation represents 136,000 rank-and-file officers in England and Wales.

"We need firm assurance about funding and urge the government to take this issue seriously," said Ms Berry.

"They must make the funding meet the threat."

She said equipment also needed to be addressed, with the arrangements for sourcing and testing equipment very bureaucratic and time consuming.

"Whilst I wouldn't want any piece of equipment to be used, we could be bit more creative in using testing in other countries and take that rather that having to go through a more bureaucratic system in this country," she said.