Michael Perkins

It comes as no surprise that government officials often misuse statistics to advance their own political and personal agendas. In an attempt to reverse the British public's growing skepticism of public statistics, in 2008, the British Parliament established an independent agency, the UK Statistics Authority, for evaluating government practices in the collection and reporting of official statistics. The Authority's web site states:

The Authority's statutory objective is to promote and safeguard the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It is also required to promote and safeguard the quality and comprehensiveness of official statistics, and ensure good practice in relation to official statistics.

Richard Aldritt was named the Authority's Head of Assessment. Aldritt, a professional statistican, and his team evaluate the data and review the claims made by officials in over 200 agencies.

Last month, for instance, Conservative MP Chris Grayling claimed that police statistics showed an increase in violent crime during the Labour party's time in government. The Conservatives, moreover, sent the numbers to activists throughout England and Wales in an attempt to show a decline in law and order under the Labour party. The UK Statistics Authority issued an assessment of Grayling's claim that concluded that the apparent increase in crime was due to a change in reporting methodology. Moreover, they noted that the British Crime Survey, normally considered a more reliable source, showed a decrease in violent crime during the same period.

Predictably, Chris Grayling responded as follows:

The reality is these figures actually reflect real crimes, reported to real police stations, by real people. And the reality is however you caveat these figures, whatever qualifications you make about changes to the recording methods, they show a big increase in violent crime over the past decade and we are going to carry on saying that.

Click here to read a BBC article about the flap.

It should be noted that not all assessments by the Authority have been dismissed so cavalierly. The BBC article states that:

In 2008, [the Authority] criticised Labour ministers for releasing what it said was "premature and selective" data about hospital admissions for knife wounds in certain parts of the country. The then Home Secretary Jacqui Smith apologised for the early release.

A truly independent gadfly agency that checks public statistics is probably a good idea, but I doubt that it is going to solve the problem. The flood of statistics, many of which are flawed or misleading, coming out of government and the media is making education in statistics increasingly important. As H.G. Wells said:

Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read or write.