/* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} The announcement from Justice Secretary Ken Clarke earlier this month that he was looking to reduce the number of criminals given custodial sentences has proved to be a contentious one.

Full Fact has already probed claims on reoffending and international crime rates in the wake of Mr Clarke’s statement, but the controversies – and the claims – show no sign of abating.

Earlier today, newly-ennobled Tory peer Michael Howard attacked the proposed reforms of the penal system when speaking to the Daily Politics show’s Andrew Neil.

The former Home Secretary is often cited as an opponent of Mr Clarke’s policy having famously claimed that “prison works” in a 1993 speech.

And it was with reference to this speech that Lord Howard defended his record on crime, claiming: “Since 1993, crime has fallen by about 50 per cent, at exactly the same time that the prison population has gone up .”

Whilst the Conservative party’s use of crime figures has been criticised recently, it is relatively easy to pin down the source for Lord Howard’s claim.

The latest bulletin of the British Crime Survey (BCS), released last week, notes that: “There is a clear pattern from the BCS of crime reaching a peak in 1995 with a subsequent decline, with overall BCS crime down by 50 per cent since 1995.”

Between 1993 and 1995 crime did rise slightly, so whilst Lord Howard is technically incorrect in making his claim, this doesn’t necessarily undermine the force of his argument once delays in policy implementation are accounted for.

What is interesting is that Lord Howard has chosen the BCS as the yardstick by which crime levels are measured.

As Full Fact has repeatedly reported, a number Lord Howard’s party colleagues have raised some concerns about the use of the BCS, and have used other measures to suggest that violent crime is actually on the rise.

Using the Police Recorded Crime data, the picture painted by Lord Howard is compromised somewhat. Crime actually rose between 1993 and 2003, although it has since fallen again.

Lord Howard’s remarks therefore touch on the wider problem of politicians using divergent data sets to justify or attack the Government’s record on crime.

The announcement by the Home Office of a review of crime reporting is to be welcomed. However until the debate is centred on a common data set, there remains a need to exercise extreme caution when making the sort of links between crime figures and prisoner numbers made by Lord Howard earlier.