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Crime Of The Century - A Chilling Look At Crime Statistics In The UK


to validate and check the resulting data should be published and reviewed, and a cost- effective way found of re-introducing some form of independent and risk-based audit – for example, though the use of unannounced spot checks (recommendation 6).


Financial implications 39. We believe that the implementation of our recommendations would not require a major outlay of public expenditure. The most costly single item would be the re-introduction of external audit checks on police crime records, as previously carried out by the Audit Commission (paragraphs 78-79), but these costs could be reduced by adopting a periodic and risk-based approach. A cost of perhaps £1 million a year (plus costs to the police in responding to audits) needs to be considered in the context of total public expenditure on police services in England and Wales, which is of the order of £13-14 billion.


3. Recommendations


40. The recommendations made in our interim report (annex H) have been reviewed in the light of comments received (annexes I and J). After consideration of the full range of evidence that has now been gathered, our final recommendations are as follows:


1. The Home Office should establish a standing non-executive board to review and report on arrangements for the production of crime statistics, in order to provide independent assurance of their impartiality and integrity, and to comment on methods and quality. 2. The National Statistician should publish a full and regular commentary on trends and patterns in crime. This would set an authoritative benchmark for further analysis of these data. 3. The National Statistician, in conjunction with relevant government departments and the Welsh Assembly Government, should draw up proposals for the development of statistical publications on crime and the criminal justice system in England and Wales, and consult users inside and outside government. The aims should be to:


i) make the publications as relevant as possible to the likely uses of the statistics ii) make it easier for the non-expert to understand the flow of offences and offenders through the criminal justice system. 4. The National Statistician, the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice should produce the following: i) a conceptual framework for crime and criminal justice data, showing flows through the system, where and how data are captured, and where gaps, discrepancies or discontinuities occur ii) a free-standing guide that explains the strengths and limitations of different types of crime data, the circumstances in which it would be appropriate to use one source rather than another, and the kinds of judgement that need to be made when no single source is ideal iii) guidelines on the presentation and use of crime and criminal justice statistics in government documents and statements


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