Misuse of statistics – For What It’s Worth

For What It’s Worth has collected some choice comments in response to an allegation on the Conservative Party website that the Labour Party has misused statistics*. It asks: Well, how about this lot:

BENEFIT CAP

The UK Statistics Authority has rapped Iain Duncan Smith for his claim that 8,000 people moved into work as a result of the planned introduction of the coalition’s benefit cap.

http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/05/duncan-smith-rebuked-ons-misuse-benefit-statistics 9 May 2013

and Grant Shapps…..

http://disabilitynewsservice.com/2013/05/tory-boss-rebuked-over-partys-latest-misuse-of-benefit-figures/ 31 May 2013

PRIMARY ACHIEVEMENT

Andrew Dilmot, Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, has again criticised Nicky Morgan for false claims about childrens’ achievement at the end of primary school.

http://www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/2014/12/statistics-authority-calls-on-morgan-to-retract-her-false-claims/ 21st Dec 2014

READING AND WRITING

Sam Gyimah, minister for childcare and education, told a meeting at the Conservative Party annual conference in Birmingham tests showed that more than a third of young people were leaving school “unable to read, write or do maths”.

Mr Gyimah’s comments have been rounded on by Mary Bousted, general secretary of the ATL teaching union, who said it “doesn’t help when politicians misuse statistics”.

“It’s simply not true to say they are illiterate. It means that they have not reached the required level, but that doesn’t mean they can’t read,” she said.

https://news.tes.co.uk/b/news/2014/09/30/conservative-minister-condemned-after-claiming-uk-students-39-illiterate-and-innumerate-39.aspx 30th Sept 2014

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MRSA

The Conservatives have been in trouble over their use of statistics before. Chris Grayling’s crime numbers has been persistently questioned, the Tories famously claimed that half of all teenagers were pregnant in some areas, and David Cameron was caught misusing dataabout cancer during the first leaders’ debate. It now emerges that their claims about MRSA are also economical with the truth.

http://leftfootforward.org/2010/04/tory-misuse-of-stats-is-infectious/ 29th April 2010

ESA FACTS

http://skwalker1964.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/we-did-it-tories-now-spanked-by-uksa-for-blatant-esa-distortion/

PISA TESTS 

http://www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk/2012/10/statistics-watchdog-expresses-concern-about-dfe-use-of-the-pisa-2000-figures/

REPORT INTO THE ABUSE OF STATISTICS BY THE DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS

http://www.scribd.com/doc/149776210/DPAC-Report-on-DWP-Abuse-of-Statistics-Final-22-June-2013 Jun 2013

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ELECTION PLEDGES

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/reality-check/2015/jan/05/reality-check-how-accurate-tory-dossier-labour-election-pledges Jan 2015

*https://www.conservatives.com/ShareTheFacts.aspx

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2 Comments

  1. Andy January 10, 2015 at 3:50 pm - Reply

    “You mean your statistics are facts, but my facts are just statistics”
    Yes Prime Minister

    “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the states of facts and evidence.”
    John Adams

    And let’s not forget the famous miss quote by Ronald Regan “Facts are stupid things”.

    The latter is perfectly applicable to the Conservative Party’s train of thought.

    Lets just hope that people are paying attention.

  2. casalealex January 11, 2015 at 7:53 pm - Reply

    The Government are very keen on amassing statistics – they collect them, add them, raise them to the nth power, take the cube root and prepare wonderful diagrams. Josiah Stamp

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