Statistics don’t LIE Politicians Twist them and the Media swallow the Spin

Today I came across two articles, once again calling into question the behaviour of Politicians and Government Departments when using statistics; it is clear from these that  “Once again, DWP has shown itself to be a master in statistics manipulation and in the use of selective figures” this was on sanctions; and on pay and living costs “an act of statistical trickery to change the landscape of pay bargaining in the UK for the worse.”

This persistent misuse of data and the ensuing Spin’ fed to the media by the likes of IDS, is precisely what we have been saying this for the past 2 years; and it is the reason for our petition TO: KATHRYN HUDSON PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSIONER FOR STANDARDS to :

“Use the full Powers of the Commission and investigate Iain Duncan Smith Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for his regular use of untruths and the persistent deception misleading of The House of Commons, Select Committees and the Media”

If this isn’t enough to convince you it is time for the people to respond, the Guardian’s editorial today produced their view on Welfare Reform – their verdict  “In Dire Straits” ; this is summarised with the opinion “Mr Duncan Smith’s department is in clear breach of commitments it has given, and the sanction is upheld“.

If you agree it is past time for IDS to answer for the total chaos in the DWP – Support us by signing https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/investigate-ids-for-lies. Do it Today before its too late – Because Does anyone really think IDS will be here after May??

#IDSTimeForTruth  #IndictIDS

#Sanctions – #DWP Recruit over 1500 Decision Makers!

We’ve now suffered through the Lies from Esther McVey  Wednesday  04 February 2015 9:30 AM on “benefit sanctions policy” , with  her ‘assurances’ there are “categorically no targets set on how many claimants should be sanctioned”‘

Refuted yesterday offered more evidence that contradicts McVey with the DWP recruiting an extra 1600 Benefit Sanctions Decision Makers  since taking office!; They support these statistics with the comment “Whilst the DWP continually says it has no Benefit Sanctions Targets, despite irrefutable evidence, this view now seems even more implausible since today it published statistics that it show they nearly trebled the number of sanction decision makers?”

Lets not forget All these #Sanctions are made by unqualified people  ” there are no specific external qualifications required for the decision making role. All Decision Makers go through a training programme that supports the individual in their role. The Decision Maker consolidates this learning with mentor support” DWP February 3 2015.

#SanctionsCauseDEATH

SICK OF THIS SITUATION??? DEMAND #IDS ANSWERS FOR IT https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/investigate-ids-for-lies

#Sanctions – #DWP Recruit

We’ve now suffered through the Lies from Esther McVey  Wednesday  04 February 2015 9:30 AM on “benefit sanctions policy” , with  her ‘assurances’ there are “categorically no targets set on how many claimants should be sanctioned”‘

Refuted yesterday offered more evidence that contradicts McVey with the DWP recruiting an extra 1600 Benefit Sanctions Decision Makers  since taking office!; They support these statistics with the comment “Whilst the DWP continually says it has no Benefit Sanctions Targets, despite irrefutable evidence, this view now seems even more implausible since today it published statistics that it show they nearly trebled the number of sanction decision makers?”

Lets not forget All these #Sanctions are made by unqualified people  ” there are no specific external qualifications required for the decision making role. All Decision Makers go through a training programme that supports the individual in their role. The Decision Maker consolidates this learning with mentor support” DWP February 3 2015.

#SanctionsCauseDEATH

SICK OF THIS SITUATION??? DEMAND #IDS ANSWERS FOR IT https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/investigate-ids-for-lies

Hope, whilst IDS Lies continue to Persecute the Poor

In this my last post before the festivities kick in I want to take a look at a quick overview of the Truth Campaign and our reasons for pursuing it.

It all began on April 14 2013, when Debbie Sayers and I wrote an open letter, to Esther McVey regarding her persistent misuse of facts and statistics, we sent this with over 800 signatures, including 4 MPs, a month later. On the back of this, we started our first petition (27/5/13) to the Work & Pensions Committee demanding they :Hold IDS to account for his use of statistics.

We eventually received a response from the DWP correspondence team to our letter, which failed to even acknowledge the questions we had asked, but she did reply to Michael Meacher  and Tim Loughton MPs, who had supported our letter with the same reply.

By June 12 our first petition had hit the magic 100,000 signatures, and between then and November, we played tag with IDS as he kept hiding from the Select Committee, missing him when we submitted our petition in November to Liz Kendall & Kate Green MPs; but eventually on December 11 2013 he ran out of excuses to attend.

After a long break,  it was in May this year Debbie & I decided to start stage 2 of our campaign, particularly in response to the Governments response to the recommendations of 3rd report from Work & Pensions select committee – use of DWP statistics; and this determined our next steps.

As today sees the nights slowly begin to shorten again, and the festive season is here, with its expectations of happiness and hope; it seems an optimum time to revisit our journey so far. It is especially pertinent as these feelings are irreconcilable with the ever growing tales of horror, resulting from the DWP’s and indeed Governments false Austerity Agenda, and the ongoing persecution of the poorest, most vulnerable people in our society.

Debbie and I are both committed to what we see as a marathon and not a sprint, we have cruised past the first check point and now feel we have ‘hit the wall’ as athletes call it, that time when you wonder if you can continue. But we will, because we as JRF said “our current Welfare system doesn’t work; we refuse to become ‘victims’ of  the Lies IDS tell to Parliament , as do the supporters of our Thunderclap and the signatures so far on our petition.

If you share our outrage at the injustices forced upon disabled, unemployed, vulnerable people, please sign, support  and SHARE the story of the TRUTH Campaign and together in 2015 the people will Demand IDS is Investigated for his Lies and for the Damage done by them.

This is OUR Wish for Christmas, Yuletide and most importantly for Justice & TRUTH.

#ImpeachDWP #TRUTHCampaign #IDSTimeForTRUTH #NOWPetition

IDS – TIME TO STOP THE LIES

After yet another series of posts demonstrating how IDS and the DWP are continuing to Lie about the impact of Welfare Reform on disabled people; I decided it was time to take action, and along with Debbie Sayers,  we’ve started another petition.

This time we are demanding  – KATHRYN HUDSON PARLIAMENTARY COMMISSIONER FOR STANDARDS to ”

Use the full Powers of the Commission and investigate Iain Duncan Smith Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for his regular use of untruths and the persistent deception misleading of The House of Commons, Select Committees and the Media.

The Commissioner is responsible for  investigating  complaints about MPs who have allegedly breached the Code of Conduct or related Rules and we believe IDS has breached at least TWO of the Principles. Most of these principles are concerned with finance and expenses but, we argue IDS persistent use of distorted statistics, causes a breach of Accountability and Honesty; this is especially the case as The Government in their response to the Work & Pensions and the Public Administrations Select Committees, agree that “Government statistics should be presented in a way that is fair, accurate and “unspun” .

To this end, our petition  is worded:

” Iain Duncan Smith continues to ignore his Government and persists in misusing statistics, and it is for these reasons we believe it is time for the Powers of the Commissioner for standards to be exercised, and for Iain Duncan Smith to be independently and openly investigated for breach of Conduct”

If YOU agree that it is time for IDS to be made to pay for this ongoing assault on disabled people, please SIGN, SHARE, BLOG, & TWEET about this Campaign –

We may have started it but…it belongs to YOU.

Thanks Again for all your Support

Jayne & Debbie

Tweet- #IDSTimeForTruth  #NOWPetition

 

Fight For TRUTH – STOP the TORY LIES

A Quick update on the petition  – THANK YOU – we’ve now passed 2,500 signatures and some very kind person had paid to promote the petition (a SPECIAL Thanks to you xx), Now WE NEED to SHARE this as much as possible

If you need any more evidence Joe Halewood of the excellent SPeye Joe (Welfarewrites) informs us in June 24 Lord Freud deliberately mislead the House of Lords over bedroom tax; by quoting figures easily proved to be bogus, he stated ” There are some 200,000 smaller premises in the social rented sector available through each year” ! But the actual and universally accepted figure is 68,000 not 200,000 and so we see Lord Freud tripling the amount of the real figure as is his want. Freud also said “The process of which I am aware is when people appeal to the tribunal; there have been more than 100 such cases,” However Joe claims “Having personal knowledge of over 80 bedroom tax appeals myself just from one small part of Merseyside alone and further knowledge, some first-hand and some second-hand of a further few hundred bedroom tax appeals in Merseyside and hundreds more across the UK we again see Lord Freud knowingly misleading the House of Lords yet again.”

Further, as Bernadette Meaden yesterday wrote in Disabled people demand truth in politics. “Statistics should give us a true picture of what is happening: if the government misuses them it distorts the public debate, and leads people to judge policies on an inaccurate basis. It undermines democracy”. We know this to be true  and this is why the TRUTH Campaign formed a part of this article in Ekklesia.

If Debbie & I have learnt anything over the past 4 years it is – If WE don’t scrutinise and Challenge Government – No One Will!

So if you believe Government Budgets, Polices and Programmes should be based on FACTS and not skewed statistics; PLEASE continue to push this.

Join out Thunderclap and help us get the SOCIAL REACH of 69,038 to sign our Petition

Tweet – #NOWPetition #ImpeachDWP

As Robert Livingstone shows in his latest piece

Government Policies are Bad for our Health – Time for Challenge #NowPetition

The latest group to be hard hit by Government Policies are women employees, Female workers hit hardest by Austerity Agenda & associated Cuts, this won’t be a surprise to anyone not fortunate to earn enough; but for most of us, this is another example of how Government Policies are penalising the majority of people – simply because they are not rich.

The past four years are strewn with evidence demonstrating precisely how, outcomes of Government Reforms have been detrimental to the general public; Welfare Reform has brought about Workfare, Benefit Cap, Bedroom Tax, PIP, and  changes to ESA, JSA sanctions  & Tax Credits, to cite a few of the programmes. All of the above, have been criticised by numerous independent groups, charities, think tanks and across social media, as not only being prejudicial but as being incongruous. Similar criticism applies to Policies in Justice Reform, the Home Office, the Health Service, Tax & Revenue etc. Further we’ve been subjected to a series of inconsistencies from various Minsters & MPs across Parliament, from expense claims to downright untruths; and this behaviour in the main goes unchallenged, or worse is defended.

These Policies and Programmes have had a negative effect on  disabled people, older people, black & minority ethnic people, low paid people, jobless people, children and women, and  the articles used in the above links, are merely examples of the plethora of  evidence available. This leads me to one conclusion; current Government Policies, particularly when based upon such questionable, data are damaging the health and well-being of the majority of people in the UK.

It is for this reason we are challenging Parliament to STOP the SPIN, we want Government to ensure  their Laws and Policies, are fair and based upon Fact; further we are  dissatisfied with Political attempts at psychological coercion, with MPs persistently misusing statistics to justify prejudicial Polices.

For these reasons we believe the TRUTH Campaign will positively challenge Government; and as people afflicted by the current raft of unjust Policies, we demand change.

If you, your family, friends, colleagues etc are negatively affected by any Government Policies – Join the TRUTH Campaign – sign our petition, join our Time For Truth Thunderclap, tweet #NOWPetition #ImpeachDWP, share on Social Media; and Spread the word Government Policies are Bad for our Health

 

IDS WAS Held to Account – NOW its Time to STOP the Spin

Remember the Headline – “The number is finally up for ‘cruel and incompetent’ Iain Duncan Smith – alias ‘Iain’s Dodgy Stats‘ ” ?? That was THEN   THIS IS NOW – Time for THE TRUTH Campaign  – LET’S GET HIM FOR GOOD   PLEASE SIGN & KEEP SHARING

Unfair Policies, a result of Government denying the Truth? #ImpeachDWP #NOWPetition

Two very different articles in my inbox this morning,  epitomise the way Government purposefully Selects what information to use and,or misuse at will; this (mis)management of data hides the Truth and unfortunately appears to underpin the current behaviour of some MPs.

At a recent Scrutiny meeting of the Public Accounts Committee,  the Head of the Major Projects Authority (MPA), John Manzoni confirmed the  ‘reset’ Universal Credit Project budget is still un agreed, this was one of several revealing disclosures about UC; Manzoni, in the final minutes of the hearing stated “I am not actually sure that DWP has set out Universal Credit budget at the moment“. This statement is alarming, particularly as it comes  four month after The Minister for DWP Iain Duncan Smith. informed the Work & Pension Select “We understand that DWP has now submitted the Universal Credit Strategic Outline Business Case to the Treasury for approval and expects to receive a final response in mid-April“.

This is yet another situation where a Minister of State appears to make claims, without any underpinning knowledge of the facts.  For the people the reality will presumably be, another few Billion pounds of our taxes being wasted on this ill thought, untenable project; and thousands of jobless, or part-time ‘customers’ of the DWP,  continually forced to comply with the ill conceived demands of the seemingly unworkable UC project.

The second article is a life story of 27 year old David, who since losing his job in February 2013 has experienced what can only be called, a catalogue of errors from the current Government favourite, the multi-agency approach.  In David’s case agencies seem to have included DWP,  Justice system, Probation, Housing Depts,  out of which came a situation described by David as “ if you went 24 hours without food you will shoplift“.

David’s story is well documented by the author Ann McGauran, and I urge you to read it; In her conclusion Ann says “The government is still arguing that there is no link between welfare reforms and the use of food banks.  Is it equally convinced that benefits sanctions don’t lead directly to desperate people shoplifting to feed themselves?”

This is a question I’ve asked before and appears to be paradoxical to the behaviour noted above; these actions have Government denying an abundance of statistical and other evidence, despite it coming from multiple sources, including members of the Scottish Parliament, Trussell Trust, the Government led Defra and, perhaps most interestingly  Kent County Council, which was later suppressed.  These examples along with many others demonstrate  direct links between Welfare Reform & Foodbanks.

Denial of selected evidence, combined with a persistent misuse of other information, results in uniformed Policies, Projects, Reforms and Acts, with both participants and recipients experiencing what can be deemed as unfair and unjustified treatment by their elected Government.

It is for these reasons we have launched our Campaign for the Truth which challengesGovernment denial and misuse of information.

The Campaign  is currently at stage three, and includes a petition demanding it is time Government STOPS The SPIN and accepts the recommendations of the third report from the Works & Pensions Select.

This is NOT the End of the War merely the battle for the moment #NOWPetition #ImpeachDWP

The Truth and Statistics Campaign – Petition 2

Yesterday I asked if you thought our campaign for The Truth & Statistics was worth it; overwhelmingly you all share our need for truth, and for this I THANK YOU  and am pleased to report the sharing of the post resulted in another 200 signatures; today I’m picking up on the comments and you advice offered and setting out the current tags, possible promotional ideas  etc for our campaign.

Our second petition reads-

The House of Commons – Stop Ministers Spinning Statistics  Enforce the Recommendations of W&P Select of Use of DWP Statistics.

  Last year over 100,006 people said Hold Iain Duncan Smith to account for his misuse of Statistics, both The  Work & Pensions Select 3rd Report Monitoring the Perfomance of DWP 2012/13 and the Public Administration Committee 1st Report Agreed.

We demand The House accepts these Recommendation and Ensures Minsters and others present statistics in a way that is fair, accurate and “unspun”.

 

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/house-of-commons-stop-ministers-spinning-statistics-accept-the-recommendations-of-select-committees-stop-ministers-spinning-dwp-statistics

We are using Stop MPs Spinning Stats in all our posts/tweets/shares and #ImpeachDWP & #NOWPetition

it was suggested we also approach backbencher MPs we do trust, to engage them in this fight for Honesty from Ministers, I’ve picked up on this with members of the Work & Pensions Select (who have a vested interest)  –

Member	Party
Dame Anne Begg (Chair)	Labour
Debbie Abrahams	Labour
Graham Evans	Conservative
Sheila Gilmore	Labour
Glenda Jackson	Labour
Kwasi Kwarteng	Conservative
Nigel Mills	Conservative
Anne Marie Morris	Conservative
Teresa Pearce	Labour
Mr Mike Thornton	Liberal Democrat
Dame Angela Watkinson	Conservative

MPs who supported the 1st petition included  John McDonnell & Michael Meacher; I’m sure there were others but…time has done its usual job on my memory, if you are in contact with any MPs you feel may support us please tell them about it.

Roswynne Jones of the Mirror has from the start supported this campaign and I’m sure will cover the struggle soon; again as with the Politicians it you have contacts for any journalists – press or TV/Radio please contact them; should you, or indeed they, wish to speak to either myself or Debbie let us know in comments, Tweet @JayneLinney @DebbieSayers or via the same names on Facebook; we’d Love to hear from you.

It is Vital we don’t forget the reasons MP Misuse stats – they are using the spun data as a form of social control  applying  psychological coercion to as Friedli says  ‘formulate and gain consent for the current regime of welfare reform”. They do this without underpinning knowledge nor without concern for the real damage this causes to the mental health of the people they purport to serve.

 The question now is –  if We don’t Fight Back, Who will?

Please Continue Sharing, making contact – Together We Can Achieve Positive Change  xx

Check out the Amazing Official ‘Truth’ Campaign Poem by @juxtaposed

Cast-on Cast-offs