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Watchdog says ministers make a habit of burying bad news

By DANIEL MARTIN - More by this author » Last updated at 01:26am on 19th March 2008

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Ministers routinely try to divert attention from embarrassing statistics, a public watchdog said yesterday.

A report by the Statistics Commission found there was institutional pressure not to "draw attention to things that will be unwelcome" to the Government.

The commission, which is being scrapped, singled out a number of ministers whose departments were guilty of the politically driven use of official figures.

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Spin: Ed Balls and Jacqui Smith are among those implicated in the report

Some politicians are said to have made incendiary statements aimed at overshadowing the publication of unwelcome reports.

The report claimed spin was a feature of Ed Balls's Schools Department, Jacqui Smith's Home Office, James Purnell's Department for Work and Pensions and Alan Johnson's Department of Health.

David Rhind, the commission's chairman, criticised Mr Balls last week for making highly-charged political statements when school admissions figures were released.

The report said a number of Government departments were guilty of "going to some lengths to ensure that the press receive the departmental line".

It cited press releases giving a departmental interpretation of official figures with quotes from ministers and ? in the case of the Home Office ? advance press briefings and embargoed releases.

The commission said departments should never comment on statistics at the same time as they are published.

"Simultaneous publication is common and we think that this may sometimes be intended as much to draw attention away from the statistical release as to complement it," it said.

One press release from the Department of Health failed all six tests used by the commission to judge the quality of a release.

The commission is being replaced by the UK Statistics Authority next month.

 

 

 

 
 
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