Dear Mr Stone,

Thank you for your letter of 20 May about the misrepresentation of the results of the Consultation on a change of ownership of Channel 4 Television Corporation at the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee, by the Secretary of State Nadine Dorries MP on 19 May.

We spoke to the Department and they explained that Secretary of State accepts that 96% opposed the privatisation (or answered ‘No’ in question 1 of the consultation) but as she was interrupted during her answers, this became unclear. Ministers were questioned on this on 26 May in the House of Commons but I am disappointed they did not take the opportunity to precisely clarify the statistics for the record.

I am copying this letter to the Secretary of State, and we will continue to stress the importance of accuracy and clarity in public statements about statistics.

Yours sincerely,

Sian Jones

Interim Chair of the UK Statistics Authority

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Related links:

Jamie Stone MP to Sir David Norgrove – Channel 4 Privatisation