Scholar Sees Red Over Green's Stats

Lies, damned lies and statistics - as the cliched saying goes. And Sir Michael Scholar, chairman of the UK Statistics Authority, is on a mission to make sure ministers don't stray too far when they use official numbers.
The subject of his ire this time is immigration minister Damian Green, who is already having an uncomfortable time due to the on-going row about relaxed border checks.
He's not being accused of lying but of using "highly selective" numbers.
Sir Michael accuses the Home Office using drug seizure figures "in order, it seems, to show the UK Border Agency in a good light".
He wants Mr Green to reassure him that he did not use the figures "to generate positive news coverage ahead of the release of the national statistics which showed a decline in the volume of drug seizures".
On November 4, the UK Border Agency - which is at the centre of said border row - released numbers indicating border staff seized more class A drugs in the first half of the year than they had in the whole of the year before.
Three days later, an official statistical bulletin showed the amount of cocaine and heroin seized had halved in 2010/11 compared with 2009/10.
"The November 4 press release, which appears not to have been published on either the Home Office or the UK Border Agency websites, and seems to have been distributed only to a select group of journalists, makes no reference to the forthcoming Statistical Bulletin," Sir Michael wrote.
"It was, I understand, produced without any involvement by, and without the knowledge of, the department's statisticians; and it is highly selective in its choice of statistics, in order, it seems, to show the UK Border Agency in a good light."
A spokesman for the agency said they would reply in due course but take their responsibilities under the UK Statistics Authority's code of practice seriously.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper - already piling on the pressure over Brodie Clark - has called for "an urgent investigation by the Cabinet Secretary into whether there has been a breach of the Ministerial Code" by either Green or Theresa May.
Mr Green isn't the first minister to receive a strongly worded letter from Sir Michael and will doubtless not be the last.
It is always interesting to keep an eye on where his missives are being sent as it reveals what bees are in the bonnet of the numbers experts.
A quick skim over recent letters shows another one to Mr Green, quibbling his use of migration statistics and whether there's been a net increase since 2004 (there cannot be certainty, Sir Michael concludes).
It also reveals two letters to ministers pleading with them not to slash funding for statistics and surveys.
One is to Eric Pickles, the Communities Secretary, who is urged to "look again" at his decision to discontinue the Citizenship Survey - which Sir Michael points out has been useful in making the case for the Government's own Big Society policy.
The second is to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, who is warned that ending the contribution towards the Office of National Statistics' General Lifestyle Survey means they'll have to stop including questions relating to smoking, drinking and the use of health services.
Perhaps that's one way of falling foul of the official numbers - simply produce fewer of them?