The DWP have taken to twitter in a crude attempt to defend themselves from the accusation that Iain Duncan Smith has been misusing statistics.
Astonishingly the DWP then go on to re-iterate Mark Hoban’s claim that “DWP staff & claimants (are) telling us cap is impacting behaviour & leading to those affected getting work”.
They also point out that everyone affected by the cap has been contacted by the Department. The implication is that the DWP has some information on reports from claimants and DWP staff about the impact of the benefit cap. These statistics, or reports, have not been published.
This is a shocking snub from the DWP which shows just how far they are prepared to manipulate the truth to defend the brutal welfare reforms. The UK Statistics Authority has accused them of making claims about people finding jobs due to the benefit caps which are not supported by evidence. The Authority has even warned they are breaching the official Code of Practice on for Official Statistics.
The DWP have responded that they have information, not yet published, which proves Iain Duncan Smith’s claims are true, despite the official statistics showing otherwise. This makes a mockery of independent regulation of government statistics. Even when they’ve been caught fibbing the DWP cannot bring themselves to back down and have instead launched a petulant attempt to defend Iain Duncan Smith’s lies.
There’s a petition about this, for those that do petitions, at: https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/work-pensions-committee-hold-ids-to-account-for-his-use-of-statistics-2
Follow me on twitter @johnnyvoid
The Void
