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Home Office cannot be trusted on crime figures, says watchdog

05/09/06

HOME Office ministers should be stripped of their involvement in publishing crime statistics to restore public trust in the figures, a government watchdog said yesterday.

The Statistics Commission cautioned that without such a change the Government would be unable to persuade the public to have confidence in figures on levels of crime.

The independent watchdog also called for the Home Office to lose control over the British Crime Survey, which interviews 40,000 people about crime and, ministers say, is the most reliable indicator of offending. It recommended changing the definition of violent crime, which includes more than 300 offences including bigamy, abortion and dangerous driving.

Last night a Home Office spokeswoman said: "We do not accept that there is any ministerial interference in the preparation or publication of crime statistics. Ministers do not even see the bulletins until 72 hours ahead of publication."

Yesterday's report called for responsibility and publication of crime figures to be at "arm's length" from Home Office policymakers, and for the British Crime Survey to be moved to the Office for National Statistics. Two sets of crime figures are published by the Home Office ? the British Crime Survey and the offences recorded by the 43 police forces in England and Wales.

The report emphasised that the Government's ministers, press officers and advisers has responsibility for publishing the figures and for reacting to them.

The commission warned ministers that they faced a struggle to restore trust because people's perception of offending was influenced by the experience of friends and family.

It said that a count of "total crime" was an impossibility because trends could be altered by police recording practices and whether or not the public reported offences.

This year, Charles Clarke, the former Home Secretary, announced an independent review of crime statistics after he became concerned at the confusion and that few people believed them. The results are expected to be published soon.

Last night David Davis, the Shadow Home Secretary, said: "We welcome the recommendations to separate responsibility for crime statistics from government policy departments and to look at transferring responsibility for the British Crime Survey to the Office for National Statistics.

"For too long the Government has used bogus, inappropriate and spun statistics to try to hide its failure on crime."