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4 September 2006: Statistics Commission publishes its review of crime statistics Crime statistics: user perspectives (Report no.30 )

4 September 2006: Statistics Commission publishes its review of crime statistics Crime statistics: user perspectives (Report no.30 )

The report calls for changes in arrangements for crime statistics; it makes a number of recommendations which the Commission will now be pursuing with the Home Office and others.

The recommendations follow four main themes:

• structural separation between Home Office policy functions and the compilation and publication of crime statistics;
• improved communication with users through clearer presentation of the statistics at the time of publication;
• better, more consistent, crime data for small areas, through more systematic exploitation of existing police data sources;
• further technical research on options where the existing statistics do not fully meet demand - including the best measure of ‘total crime’, and ways to improve comparisons of crime statistics between UK administrations.

In January 2006, the then Home Secretary set up a cross-party working group, under the chairmanship of Professor Adrian Smith, to review, and advise Ministers on, how crime statistics should be compiled and published. The Commission has stayed in touch with this group whilst developing its own independent report and will respond to the Smith group’s conclusions once they are published.

The Statistics Commission was set up in June 2000 to advise on the quality, quality assurance and priority setting for official statistics, and on the procedures designed to deliver statistical integrity, to help ensure official statistics are trustworthy and responsive to public needs. It is independent both of Ministers and of the producers of official statistics. More information about the Commission’s role and work is on its website