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 […]
Correction 29/06/23: On 16 June, Sir Robert Chote wrote to Munira Wilson MP in response to concerns about claims made by the Mayor of London regarding vehicle compliance with the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) in Outer London. In our letter, we stated that we were satisfied that the Mayor’s claim is consistent with the data […]
Dear Sir Robert, I write, with some regret, to raise fresh concerns about Ministers’ use of official statistics on the asylum backlog. These concerns are related to, but separate from, the issues raised late last year in my letter to you and in your helpful and informative response. Firstly, on Monday of this week, the […]
Dear Dame Angela, Thank you for your letter regarding a tweet posted by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, that was retweeted by HM Treasury on 25 April. It stated that: “To restore our public finances, I had to take some difficult decisions last autumn. But we have made progress. By 2027-28, headline debt levels are […]
Dear Mr Carmichael, Thank you for your letter of 10 March about the Home Secretary’s use of statistics on displaced people. In a statement to the House of Commons she said “there are 100 million people around the world who could qualify for protection under our current laws. Let us be clear: they are coming […]
Dear Sir Robert, Misleading Government Social Media Content I am writing to raise concerns over statistics used by the Chancellor of the Exchequer regarding the state of the public finances which I believe to be inaccurate and misleading. Recently, the Chancellor has made misleading claims on public debt figures through his Twitter account. On 25 […]
Dear Ms Thornberry, Thank you for your letters regarding the use of statistics on crime and policing by Ministers. You asked about a statement the Prime Minister made on 22 March about crime. You also asked about an interview in which the Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire discussed police recruitment. The Prime Minister said […]
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 Shadow Chancellor, I am writing to you about a graphic posted on your Twitter timeline on 14 March showing the GDP growth rates forecast for each of the G7 countries by the International Monetary Fund in January. An important role of data visualisation is to aid understanding of the data. But in this case the graph […]
Dear Sir Robert, I am sorry to keep pestering you, and my apologies if you are on holiday at present and not picking up these messages, but I really must protest about the continuing repetition by government ministers of misleading statements on levels of crime, which reached a fresh nadir this morning. Interviewed on Good […]