Statistics sham

IN order to provide a "truly independent assessment" of the state of the nation's finances, the Government intends to create an Office for Budget Responsibility.

This enlightened approach should not be consigned, however, to Treasury matters. It should be applied to school exam results – and it would certainly restore integrity to crime figures.

This is borne out by the UK Statistics Authority's critique of official crime data – and how these figures are now deeply mistrusted by the law-abiding public.

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Of course, it is unhelpful that politicians use two sets of figures and, invariably, highlight only those statistics that suit their own agenda.

The validity of this information has also been undermined by Ministers regularly changing the parameters which are

used to measure the effectiveness of individual police forces.

It's not just Labour who are to blame – Chris Grayling, the then Shadow Home Secretary, was rebuked prior to the election for misleading

the public about levels of violent crime.

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Yet, in many respects, the most fundamental change will not occur until there is a closer correlation between the crime committed – and the punishment passed by

the courts.

The main reason so

many people have lost

faith with the criminal justice system is the number of defendants

who do not serve, in full, their prison sentence and then reoffend once they have been released back into society.

One option would be for the courts to introduce minimum sentences so crime victims know precisely where they stand. This would then have to be backed up by crime figures that were published in a format that enabled the police to target resources in specific areas.

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If this Government is determined to restore trust and integrity to the country, it will make these changes so it cannot be accused – at a later date –

of manipulating official data for party political advantage.