Friday, November 24, 2023
Welsh Government spin
It seems that it is not just the Welsh Tories who are guilty of shameless and inaccurate spin on the new default 20mph limit in Wales. The Welsh Government has been caught bang-to-rights as well.
The BBC reports that the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) has queried how statistics supporting the claim by Welsh Ministers that "most journeys will be around one minute longer" were presented.
It said promotional leaflets posted to Welsh homes about the move lacked transparency and they expressed concern about how difficult it was for the public to understand and scrutinise the figure:
The OSR comes under the umbrella of the UK Statistics Authority, which works independently of government, and reports directly to the parliaments of the UK.
The OSR's Director General for Regulation Ed Humpherson said it would have been "challenging for a reader to unpick this detailed document to find and understand the data and calculations used to support this claim".
He added that "improvements could have been made to aid transparency and better support users".
It is little wonder that the Welsh Government's claims on this change are treated with such scepticism by the public.
The BBC reports that the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) has queried how statistics supporting the claim by Welsh Ministers that "most journeys will be around one minute longer" were presented.
It said promotional leaflets posted to Welsh homes about the move lacked transparency and they expressed concern about how difficult it was for the public to understand and scrutinise the figure:
The OSR comes under the umbrella of the UK Statistics Authority, which works independently of government, and reports directly to the parliaments of the UK.
The OSR's Director General for Regulation Ed Humpherson said it would have been "challenging for a reader to unpick this detailed document to find and understand the data and calculations used to support this claim".
He added that "improvements could have been made to aid transparency and better support users".
It is little wonder that the Welsh Government's claims on this change are treated with such scepticism by the public.
