Dear Sirs, As an MSP for the Glasgow Region and Scottish Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, I write with concern regarding the article published in The Scotsman yesterday which discloses allegations by a whistle-blower that patients who present at the Acute Assessment Unit (AAU) of Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) […]
Dear Mr Kerr, Thank you for your letter to the National Statistician about renewable electricity in Scotland. I am responding as Chair of the UK Statistics Authority. You asked us to consider a claim by the Scottish National Party that almost all of Scotland’s electricity needs are met by renewable generation. As you say, this […]
Dear Ms Baillie, Thank you for your letter of 5 October to the Director General for Regulation about statistics on waiting times for NHS treatment as they appear in the new NHS Inform dashboard. You were concerned about media reports suggesting that this website understated waiting times for certain procedures. The dashboard shows the numbers […]
Dear Ed, RE: Misleading and inaccurate information on waiting times for NHS treatment I write to you regarding the above matter. I was deeply concerned to read a news article in The Times newspaper, on 29th September 2022, claiming that “[p]eople on waiting lists for procedures such as hip and knee replacements are waiting six […]
Dear Sir Ian, I’m writing on the subject of statistics used by the Scottish Government, the SNP, and the “Yes” campaign, which is at least partially run by the SNP. As you will of course know, the SNP Scottish Government are putting a great deal of resource into pushing for the break-up of the United […]
Dear Mr Rennie, Thank you for your letter of 21 January about the First Minister’s use of statistics from the Coronavirus Infection Survey (CIS). CIS estimated that in the week ending 15 January 2022, 5.47 per cent of people in England and 4.49 per cent of people in Scotland had COVID-19[1]. The First Minister was […]
Sir David, I write to report to you the use of statistics by the First Minister at the Scottish Parliament this week and to seek your guidance on their validity on this occasion and in future. At yesterday’s First Minister’s Questions, the First Minister stated: “The Office for National Statistics figures this week show that […]
Dear Ms Baillie, Thank you for your letter of 6 January about the Deputy First Minister’s use of statistics from the Coronavirus Infection Survey. In his interview the Deputy First Minister was drawing on the most recent data then available. Mr Swinney’s office has told us that he was aware of the time period covered […]
Dear Sir David, Misleading use of statistics from Deputy First Minister of Scotland on BBC Radio Scotland – Good Morning Scotland, 4 January 2022 I write to you regarding the above matter. I am deeply concerned to hear John Swinney MSP, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Covid Recovery, wrongly use statistics from before […]
Dear Cabinet Secretary, Today, the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) has published its review; Improving health and social care statistics: lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic resulted in a huge public appetite for data and statistics. We have seen a remarkable response from producers of data and analysis to meet this demand, in […]