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Public trust in police crime figures is dented, minister admits Public trust in police crime figures is dented, minister admits
(35 minutes later)
Public confidence in the police recorded crime figures has been dented but "has not collapsed" since the decision to withdraw their official status as national statistics, the Home Office minister Norman Baker has said. Public confidence in the police recorded crime figures has been dented but "has not collapsed" since the decision to withdraw their official status as national statistics, the Home Office minister, Norman Baker, has said.
The Liberal Democrat crime prevention minister has also warned the London mayor, Boris Johnson, and 13 police and crime commissioners who have set their forces local targets to reduce their police recorded crime figures to make sure this does not lead them to chase targets rather than cut crime. The Liberal Democrat crime prevention minister has also warned the London mayor, Boris Johnson, and 13 police and crime commissioners who have set their forces local targets to reduce their police recorded crime figures to make sure this does not lead them to chase targets rather than to cut crime.
Baker was giving evidence to MPs on the Commons public administration select committee after the UK Statistics Authority withdrew the gold-standard "national statistics" status from the police recorded crime figures amid repeated allegations that some of the quarterly published figures had been subject to "a degree of fiddling", and were unreliable.Baker was giving evidence to MPs on the Commons public administration select committee after the UK Statistics Authority withdrew the gold-standard "national statistics" status from the police recorded crime figures amid repeated allegations that some of the quarterly published figures had been subject to "a degree of fiddling", and were unreliable.
The next set of quarterly crime figures is to be published this Thursday. Baker said he thought the decision would mean more attention would be paid to the more reliable crime survey of England and Wales, which will be published alongside the police crime figures. The next set of quarterly crime figures is to be published this Thursday.
The crime survey, based on a rolling programme of 40,000 interviews, measures people's experience of crime, and has long been regarded as the more authoritative on national trends. Baker said he thought the decision would mean more attention would be paid to the more reliable crime survey of England and Wales, which will be published alongside the police crime figures.
Baker said he was 'slightly surprised' that the decision to de-designate the police crime figures as national statistics had been taken before the publication of the results of an audit by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) of the crime-recording practices of all 43 police forces in England and Wales. HMIC is due to publish an interim report in the spring to establish the degree to which the police recorded crime figures are unreliable. The crime survey, based on a rolling programme of 40,000 interviews, measures people's experience of crime, and has long been seen as more authoritative on national trends.
Baker said he was "slightly surprised" that the decision to de-designate the police crime figures as national statistics had been taken before the publication of the results of an audit by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) of the crime-recording practices of all 43 police forces in England and Wales. HMIC is due to publish an interim report in the spring to establish the degree to which the police recorded crime figures are unreliable.
The Home Office minister said the problem with the police crime figures was not "endemic", in the sense that there had been no deliberate attempt across all the forces in England and Wales to massage the figures. But he believed the "police may have taken their eye off the ball" after 2006, when the Audit Commission stopped its regular analysis of the quality of the crime figures.The Home Office minister said the problem with the police crime figures was not "endemic", in the sense that there had been no deliberate attempt across all the forces in England and Wales to massage the figures. But he believed the "police may have taken their eye off the ball" after 2006, when the Audit Commission stopped its regular analysis of the quality of the crime figures.
Sir Andrew Dilnot, head of the UK Statistics Authority, said it was quite likely the police recorded crime figures would show an increase, once rigorous auditing of the data was introduced.Sir Andrew Dilnot, head of the UK Statistics Authority, said it was quite likely the police recorded crime figures would show an increase, once rigorous auditing of the data was introduced.
This could prove politically sensitive, as the changes are likely to feed through into the figures published in 2015, the general election year.This could prove politically sensitive, as the changes are likely to feed through into the figures published in 2015, the general election year.
The Office of National Statistics told the MPs it had become concerned about the integrity of the police figures more than a year ago, after five years of growth in the gap between the two sets of crime statistics.The Office of National Statistics told the MPs it had become concerned about the integrity of the police figures more than a year ago, after five years of growth in the gap between the two sets of crime statistics.