Letters:Statistics: unemployment, crime, graphs and independent schools

Sir: In connection with your query about the misleading use of statistics, I would refer you to reports such as your own "Independent schools try to befriend Blair" (16 December). The statistic here is the often-quoted figure of the £90m that the scheme "costs the taxpayer" each year.

The misleading element is that the children educated under this scheme would have to be paid for, anyway, if they were in a state school; and this would cost - wait for it - £90m.

Yours faithfully, G. F. DUNKIN Headmaster The Hulme Grammar School Oldham 19 December