DfE warned by UK statistics watchdog on funding claims
The UK Statistics Authority has written to the DfE stating that the Department’s claims about school funding were “presented in such a way as to misrepresent changes”.
In a letter to the DfE’s chief statistician, Ed Humpherson ,Director General for Regulation at the UK Statistics Authority, states:
“The way statistics have been presented gives a potentially misleading picture of changes in schools funding. In particular, the graph in the Tweet had a truncated axis that gives an exaggerated picture of the improvements; and the Tweet was presented in cash terms, not real terms. It also did not take account of an increase in the number of school age children in England. In addition, we are concerned about a related blog on school funding (which the Department has now updated). In this blog, the Department compared spending on education with that in other OECD countries. The comparison included a range of aspects of spending that are unrelated to school funding.”
Read the UK Statistics Authority’s letters to the DfE here:
UKSA to DfE permanent secretary Jonathan Slater, warning: “It is important that any Government department maintains a reputation as a trustworthy communicator of statistics.”
UKSA to education secretary Damian Hinds, warning over “serious concerns about the Department for Education’s presentation and use of statistics”
UKSA to DfE chief statistician Neil McIvor, warning: “The way statistics have been presented gives a potentially misleading picture of changes in schools funding”.