This is a Rad issues rather than a Stats one, though
definitely Stats-related.
Listening this evening to "PM" on Radio 4, during the
preliminary brief summaries of news items (though it
seems it was not expanded on later in the program)
I heard the following:
"A Government-commissioned report into the Child
Support Agency has found that staff deliberately
put false information into their comuter systems
to speed up claims.
The Dept of Work and Pensions says things have
improved since the research was carried out last
year."
Well, no doubt doing such a thing could be a sackable
disciplinary offence, and no doubt a member of the
public, who knew they had suffered from such actions,
could sue in the Civil Courts if not given adequate
redress by the DWP.
But it is already a criminal offence for a member of
the public to provide false information to the CSA.
So perhaps deliberately inputting false information
by CSA staff should also be a criminal offence.
Indeed, in that it subverts the proper functioning
of the State, it could come under the heading of
treason (though in that case I doubt the Bloody Tower
could cope).
We are in the hands of politicians and associated
manipulators of "information" (including "statistics").
We are also in the hands -- literally -- which bear
the fingers tapping lies into computers: lies which
are liable to diffuse throughout the Government IT
network and return to plague us from unexpected
quarters.
Would the Freedom of Information Act give a person
the right to ask if they had been victim of such a
thing? And get a true answer? And what about other
Government agencies?
Who could be responsible for the integrity of the
information on Government computers? The ONS? The
Information Commissioner? Some Sub-Committee of the
Audit Commission? But surely such responsibility is
liable to be retro-active; horses bolt far afield
with stable doors left open!
By the way: Trying to follow up the above "PM" item
later, I failed to find any reference to it on the DWP
or CSA websites, and also had no success with Google.
Does anyone know how this report (or any more extended
treatment of it) might be tracked down?
Best wishes to all,
Ted.
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E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <[log in to unmask]>
Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861
Date: 12-Apr-05 Time: 20:00:25
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