The government has been accused of misrepresenting data for political advantage by fact-checkers.
A new report out from Full Fact, dubbed ‘Government Statistics: Misrepresentation and Data Gaps’, found instances of potentially misleading data being sent out by departments such as the Home Office, Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.
The group concludes within the report that when data is repeatedly misrepresented, even after the error has been pointed out, then this appears to be being done in pursuit of political advantage.
It also states that in some cases, there appears to be insufficient will to make a cultural change or an insufficient commitment from ministers to the standards they have signed up to.
For instance, the report outlines a concerning trend at the Home Office of claims being made based on unpublished operational data as well as a lack of transparency around the sources of some claims made in public debate. Full Fact also suggests that ministers, including the Home Secretary, appear at times to be selectively using and describing data to give a misleading impression about what figures actually show.
Chris Morris, Chief Executive at Full Fact, said, “When Rishi Sunak first came to power, he promised us ‘integrity, accountability and professionalism at every level’. Instead, we have been left with a government where we have seen multiple instances of data use which fails to be transparent, or worse, appears to be misleading us. It’s unacceptable.
“Mistakes happen. But when these issues are raised time and time again, and nothing happens, we can only conclude that transparency, honesty and accountability is not a priority for this government.
“Any future government must make sure that this does not keep happening – mistakes must be corrected immediately, and Ministers and Departments should strive to ensure that we see a culture of accountability and transparency when it comes to the data we are presented with.”
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