The IDS Files: DWP caught giving disability propaganda to Daily Mail » DPAC

Last Updated: September 8, 2015By

Time and time again, the Work and Pensions Committee and/or the UK Statistics Authority which has investigated complaints about the media treatment of disability benefit claimants, have found DWP guilty of giving ‘direct quotations from Ministers [which] can give undue credence to inaccurate or misleading reports’ and they recommended that DWP ‘ensure that significant statistical releases are accompanied by a press release setting out the context and providing background explanatory notes’.

To which DWP responded that it ‘takes great care’ when publishing statistics to ensure that the information is used in an appropriate manner but it also stated that ‘The Committee and Government need to be mindful of the widespread public unease about the number of people claiming incapacity benefits and it is therefore unsurprising that this is reflected in the media. […] However, it is important to stress that it is not the Department’s role to dictate what can appear in stories in the media’. [Underlined by the author]

Not only have DWP or Iain Duncan Smith been found guilty of providing to some media selective information which were not supported by statistics or were not evidence based, but also that ‘the statistics do not comply fully with the principles of the Code of Practice… and that they were shared with the media in advance of their publication’.

Source: The IDS Files: DWP caught giving disability propaganda to Daily Mail #IDSFiles » DPAC

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12 Comments

  1. Bill Kruse September 8, 2015 at 2:20 pm - Reply

    Have you seen this MIke? http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b069ghzt/victoria-derbyshire-07092015 A tv show discussing sanctions. So what? Well, at one point their ‘viewers’ are good enough to email and text in with glowing testimonials about how grateful they are to the DWP for sanctioning them so they went and got jobs. Ring any bells? We aren’t told if these calls were in any way verified but, being texts and emails, how could they be? Sounds like they’re still making up fake claimants over at the DWP…

  2. Neilth September 8, 2015 at 2:30 pm - Reply

    The Tories use the Tory press to prejudice public opinion shock horror.

    Of course they do and if the figures are more dodgy than usual then they’ll issue made up figures through Taxpayer Alliance press releases which the Tory propaganda sheets will publish verbatim and without either checking the facts nor making clear the source of the lies.

    Publishing press releases is cheap lazy “journalism” as they don’t have to pay a real journalist to fill their column inches.

    The local and regional press are even more prone to this misrepresentation than most of the nationals.

    • Mike Sivier September 8, 2015 at 11:11 pm - Reply

      As a former newspaper journalist, I reckon that’s about right.

  3. Brian September 8, 2015 at 2:34 pm - Reply

    Perhaps a few complaints to the police about collusion to perpertrate ‘Corporate Hate Crimes’ is in order, now, where’s the the Daily Mails office registered?

    • Paul C. Dickie September 9, 2015 at 12:16 am - Reply

      “where’s the the Daily Mails office registered?”

      On the moon, though they also have a branch office in Botswana.

      Where would you suppose it was registered?

  4. Jim Round September 8, 2015 at 3:01 pm - Reply

    More from an all out assault by the DWP and their press friends.
    They really are trying to divert attention by all means possible aren’t they?
    My questions still remain unanswered.

    • Mike Sivier September 8, 2015 at 11:09 pm - Reply

      Your questions still remain irrelevant as they are based on nothing other than your own presumptions.

      • Jim Round September 9, 2015 at 12:01 am - Reply

        I think it is best then to await events on Saturday and beyond, we can discuss as things progress. (or regress)

  5. Jeffery Davies September 8, 2015 at 3:36 pm - Reply

    If the population took notice of the deaths under this lot I wonder whot would they do but rtu ids dwp house of lies

  6. mohandeer September 8, 2015 at 6:05 pm - Reply

    In other words the DWP has become a politicised ass saving enterprise lacking in integrity, honesty, professionalism and accuracy. If the allegation can be proven then the DWP must, as a Public Service, be audited and called to account in a court of law for abuse of their authority and power and a betrayal of the public they serve. If the W & P C and UK SA have the evidence then they should take the matter further.

  7. Thomas September 9, 2015 at 12:10 am - Reply

    If they targeted any other minorities such as black people, Jewish people. Muslims or Asians, in the way that they treat disabled people, there would be huge protests.

  8. mrmarcpc September 10, 2015 at 4:40 pm - Reply

    If this is the case, why haven’t heads rolled over this, for this alone IDS should get the boot, what hold does he have over Cameron and the rest of the nazi b*****d party, what more does he have to do!

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