John Horam

The credibility of the government's 15 "quality of life" indicators has been called into question by a committee of MPs.

The Commons environmental audit committee claimed on Thursday that the yardstick has attracted some "unfortunate media attention".

In 2001 the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs launched the barometer - which assessed people's quality of life with measurements of crime levels, and the standard of local education and transport.

Michael Meacher faced press criticism for not signing up to the soundbite at the top of the press release, "Life in Britain is a lot better", because of the mixed results of the tests.

The launch also did little to increase public awareness, the committee found.

"The quality of life barometer is an excellent communication tool which can help us all to judge the government's performance in key areas of our lives and we welcome this assessment," said committee chairman and Conservative MP for Orpington John Horam.

"However, absences of data in critical areas and weaknesses in presentation not only exaggerate progress but threaten to undermine the barometer's impact and credibility.

"We believe that the system would be more robust if it were subject to third party review.

"We are, however, encouraged to see that DEFRA has already amended the barometer since we took evidence from Mr Meacher and it now incorporates a number of changes which the committee proposed to the minister when he appeared before us."