James Cleverley (a misnomer if ever there was one) MP, Brexiteer and deputy chairman of the Conservative party has written to UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) complaining - wait for it - about a "misuse of statistics" by a website called schoolcuts (HERE) funded by an alliance of trade unions. Imagine that, a Brexiteer complaining about the misuse of statistics.
For someone like him to criticise others for misusing figures is a bit rich. Like Ronnie Kray admonishing his neighbour for riding a pushbike without lights. It isn't as if he really has something to complain about in the figures. I found the story on the Conservative Home website HERE.
You can read the UKSA response to Cleverley HERE. In their reply, they say:
"The data published on the School Cuts website are not official statistics so the authors are under no formal obligation to comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics. Nonetheless, the Authority encourages compliance with the high standards of the Code of Practice wherever data are being used in public debate.
"On this basis, we reviewed the approach taken by the School Cuts website. We have had helpful discussions with the analyst who carried out the calculations.
"We were able to replicate the high-level figures given by the School Cuts website. It was not however possible to reproduce the exact figures published on the website, as the underlying data are not publicly available and the methodology is not wholly clear".
There are some issues with the figures but they seem very minor and technical. For example of the three items he complains about one is that the use of a figure of 91% for the number of schools facing cuts. The UKSA reply says:
"The third issue is that the calculation of the 91% covers England only, whereas the website suggests that it covers both England and Wales.
"We believe the headline statement that '91% of schools face funding cuts' risks giving a misleading impression of future changes in school budgets. The method of calculation may also give a misleading impression of the scale of change for some particular schools".
These are hardly capital crimes. They pale into insignificance compared to the non existent £350 million a week and all the other figures Vote Leave used during the campaign - and which continue to be used. I didn't see Cleverley complain about them.
Also, if more than 91% of schools in Wales face cuts it would have the effect of raising the overall figure anyway. The UKSA don't give the actual number for Wales so we can't tell.
Cleverley should examine his own conscience before making complaints. He can't see the speck in the eye of the schoolcuts website for the plank in his own.
