West Yorkshire Police have rubbished suggestions by an MP that the amount of money being spent on diversity training was being driven by senior officers' bonus payments.

Shipley MP Philip Davies has criticised the force's spending of £1.3million over three years to run its diversity unit and provide training in equality as "a triumph for political correctness over common sense".

But Deputy Chief Constable Julia Hodson said the money being spent on diversity was a tiny percentage of the force's annual budget of £400m and was "impossible" to separate from front-line policing.

Mr Davies, who has also submitted several written requests in Parliament about diversity training spending in Government departments, lodged an application under the Freedom of Information Act to access the West Yorkshire Police's spending in this area over the past three years.

The figures show £438,000 was set aside for the force's diversity unit in 2005/2006 and £80,898 was spent on diversity training. In 2006/2007, the unit's budget was £417,000 and training costs were £101,076. Last year, the amounts involved were £445,000 and £235,695 respectively.

That represents just over £41 spent on diversity training last year for each of West Yorkshire Police's 5,660 officers.

Mr Davies said: "Diversity seems to have become an industry in itself and an absolute objective for senior police officers' bonus payments. To my mind, this massive spending seems to be a triumph for political correctness over common sense."

But Deputy Chief Constable Julia Hodson said the suggestion was incorrect: "I refute absolutely the suggestion that this money either satisfies political correctness' or chief officer performance payments.

"The performance-linked aspects of senior officers' pay rely on success in achieving a wide range of performance targets, not just one area."

Mr Davies said savings from the diversity unit's budget could pay for a part time officer on the desk at Bingley police station, which closed in August 2006.

But Deputy Chief Constable Julia Hodson explained that the station was underused, so staffing it was not an effective use of public money.