David Blunkett has summoned the country's top cops to a summit outlining his plans to reform the police force.

"It is right that we should increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the police,'' he said.

The meeting between the new home secretary and the 43 chief constables in England and Wales is ecpected by the end of July and will also involve the chairman of local poice authorities.

Billed as a "getting to know you" session, police officers will be concerned that the meeting heralds the tough Blunkett approach well known to teaching unions.

In the forefront of chief constable's minds will be his unprecedented intervention leading to the resignation of Sussex's chief constable, Paul Whitehouse.

Whitehouse, who resigned over a controversial killing of an unarmed suspect by poilice marksmen, is to leave his job with "immediate effect" rather than hanging on to September it has been revealed.

Blunkett is known to be concerned about high rates of sickness absence and early retirement due to "ill health" in the force. An article in a recent edition of "Police Magazine" noted that the "generous approach has led numerous officers to take advantage of the system" on sickness absence.

The number of working days lost per officer has risen in some forces, in Essex from 10 days in 1996/7 to 14.6 in 1999/2000.

The government is also said to be keen to reform police pensions.