The chairman of a key Commons committee has called on the media to be less "sloppy and lazy" in the way it reports official statistics.

In an interview with this website, John Denham said the recent coverage of crime figures was an example of journalists abusing their responsibility to report events accurately.

The newly appointed chairman of the home affairs select committee told ePolitix.com the media is too quick to look for the angle on a story that reflects worst on the government.

"It was very clear that the judgement of the independent statistical service [that] there was no increase in violent crime last year," Denham said.

"That didn't prevent most of the media picking on figures on recorded crime to claim that there had been a massive increase in violent crime."

The former crime reduction minister claims the statistics are not ambiguous.

"The media can't read anything they want unless they are being sloppy and lazy," he said.

"It is very clear. The crime figures are presented by the independent statistical service under codes of conduct to which they have to work.

"The media has a choice of whether they choose to ignore what the statistical service says in order to put their own interpretation on them.

"And I think it's a shame that that happens quite as much as it does."

Warming to a theme fine-tuned by the government in recent weeks, Denham urged "responsibility" and "discipline" in reporting.

"This isn't something that always goes in one direction," he claims.

"Sometimes relying on the statistical service will give you stories that are beneficial to the government, sometimes they will be critical.

"It is a problem that much of the media didn't have the discipline to look at what the figures are actually saying.

"The most important thing for the media is to focus on facts and not be beguiled by what looks like the most sensational story.

"I don't think it is good enough for not all but some parts of the media to say 'because this is complicated we can write what we want'."

Having recently taken up the chairmanship of the committee following his resignation from the Home Office, Denham insisted he could be both independent and rigorous in his scrutiny of the department.

"I don't think there will be any areas where we won't look at what the department has done objectively," he said.

"That's something I'll have to demonstrate in practice. I have absolutely no doubt that I can be and that I will need to show that in the months ahead.

"But it is fair enough for people to say the proof of the pudding will be in the eating."

Having seen his legislation suffer at the hands of the House of Lords when in government, Denham refuses to join calls for the a reduction in the power of the second chamber.

"I think the revising chamber has an important role," he said.

"You could certainly say that the Police Reform Act that I took through was substantively improved by scrutiny in the House of Lords. I said that at the time.

"I think the area that's open to debate is sometimes when there is an absolutely clear issue of principle on which the House of Commons has clearly and consciously voted and that there is a point about how far the second chamber can go in challenging that."

And with the role of select committees themselves having been under the spotlight in recent weeks, Denham makes a plea for more resources for the backbench bodies.

"If you look at the core tasks which select committees are given, the challenge for most select committees is actually being able to carry them all out adequately and sufficiently frequently," he argues.

"What I don't know yet is whether the select committee has sufficient resources available to it to carry out its functions as fully as it would wish to do."