Dear Dr Gulhane, Thank you for your letter of 3 July regarding publications about the impact of minimum unit pricing (MUP) for alcohol in Scotland. You raised concerns about the communication of Public Health Scotland’s (PHS) evaluation of the MUP policy, which concluded in a final report published in June (that synthesized evidence from a […]
Dear Sir Robert, I am writing to request a review of the Public Health Scotland report ‘Evaluating the impact of minimum unit pricing for alcohol in Scotland: A synthesis of the evidence’ and the associated publicity and ministerial statements. It purports to be “the final report from the PHS evaluation of minimum unit pricing for […]
Dear Ms Martin, Thank you for your letter of 7 March regarding statements made by the Prime Minister in a BBC programme that aired on 8 January. In this programme, the Prime Minister made reference to the relative performance of the NHS in the different countries of the UK. He said: “…you mention A&E waiting […]
Dear Ms Duncan-Glancy, Thank you for your letter of 24 January regarding Scottish Government figures on the cost of living. I directed the Office for Statistics Regulation to examine your concerns on this issue, and its substantive reply from Director General Ed Humpherson is enclosed. Yours sincerely, Sir Robert Chote Chair of the […]
Dear Sir/Madam, I write regarding claims made by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in a BBC interview, as referenced in the story linked: PM lies directly about A&E Waiting times in England and Scotland – Talking-up Scotland I am concerned that Mr Sunak selected statistics that are not a like-for-like comparison and in using them he […]
Dear Ed, RE: Misleading figures on Cost of Living Measures I am concerned that a figure that is being repeatedly used by the Scottish Government, which claims that it has allocated £3billion for Cost of Living Measures, is misleading. The Scottish Government has used this figure on a number of occasions including in a statement […]
Dear Dr Gulhane, Thank you for your letter of 9 November asking us to investigate concerns about statistics on Accident and Emergency (A&E) waiting times in Scotland. The Scottish Government has a target that 95 per cent of people attending A&E should be seen within four hours. Your letter refers to an article in the […]
Dear Mr Cole-Hamilton, Thank you for your letters of 14 November and 28 November regarding statistics on renewable energy in Scotland. You asked us to consider the claim that Scotland has 25 per cent of Europe’s renewable energy potential and cited several examples. Upon reviewing these, we identified that the precise claim made is that […]
Dear Sir Robert, Further to my letter of 14th November, I am writing once again with regard to the serial misuse and mismanagement of a recently debunked energy statistic by a succession of Scottish National Party and Scottish Green Party ministers and politicians. On Sunday 27th November, a senior member of SNP staff posted an […]
Dear Sir Robert, I am writing with regard to the serial misuse and mismanagement of a recently debunked renewable energy statistic by a succession of Scottish National Party and Scottish Green Party ministers and politicians and in Scottish Government documents. The claim has been that Scotland has 25% of Europe’s renewable energy potential. However research […]