Sussex Police has been ranked highly for cutting crime and bringing more offenders to justice.

The force was listed as one of the better performing constabularies in England and Wales.

A performance report published yesterday put it in the top half of an appraisal of 43 constabularies.

On seven performance indicators, it was above average on four and average on three.

The report said: "In 2004/5, Sussex made significant advances in performance management and bringing offenders to justice, which are beginning to show results.

"These include welcome reductions in domestic burglary and vehicle crime.

"Major crime investigation has delivered good results and improvements in resourcing to combat cross-border criminality should occur during 2005/6.

"This has been assisted by continuous stability and effective leadership from the command team."

The Government tables revealed the best and worst forces in performance assessments by the Home Office.

Assessments for 2004/5 compared similar forces with each other but did not provide an overall league table.

A Home Office spokesman said the tables provided a "clear grading" for each force's performance and showed whether it had improved or deteriorated.

Every force was ranked excellent, good, fair or poor in seven areas of operation.

Sussex was ranked good - meaning it performed better than its peers - for investigating crime, providing assistance, resource use and local policing.

It was rated fair for reducing crime, promoting safety and citizen focus.

The report said: "The biggest challenges for the force in 2005/6 will be around improving contact management systems for the reporting and recording of crime, the management of human resources and continuing to improve crime reduction and detection."

Yesterday's assessments were the first to incorporate the studies of HM Inspectorate of Constabulary.

Policing Minister Hazel Blears said: "As the first assessment of this kind, the publication sets a benchmark for future policing performance.

"It will enable local communities to understand the performance of their force, thereby promoting accountability and responsiveness.

"It will also allow forces - with their police authorities - to identify strengths and weaknesses, reducing the need for external inspections, reviews or other interventions."

Peter Jones, chairman of Sussex Police Authority, said: "This shows we are continuing to improve, having progressed to comfortably above mid-table.

"The authority and force will be meeting in November to discuss how we can improve on these even further and address categories assessed as fair."

The report showed 19 forces were below average at investigating crime. Fifteen were below average at reducing crime.