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The report in question is DWP research report 232, a link to which can be found at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rrs2005.asp. The report itself is at http://www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rports2005-2006/rrep232.pdf. It was co-written by Steve McKay, who has occasionally posted things to this list. The executive summary says that (p3): "Some staff said that they were entering some incorrect information to fill in unknown details so that they could get the system to continue with the case. Others took notes whilst clients were on the phone then completed the relevant screens afterwards." This is by no means the headline of the report, and the quote above makes it sound much less bad than the PM headline. It would be interesting to know what the authors made of this. Mike Brewer PS: the DWP website says this was published in March 2005, and the most recent report is number 242. So the real question is: who prompted the PM programme about this month-old report? > 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. > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- > E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <[log in to unmask]> > Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 094 0861 > Date: 12-Apr-05 Time: 20:00:25 > ------------------------------ XFMail ------------------------------ > > ****************************************************** > Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your > message will go only to the sender of this message. > If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's > 'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically > to [log in to unmask] > ******************************************************* > > -- Mike Brewer Programme Director, Direct Tax and Welfare Institute for Fiscal Studies 7 Ridgmount Street, London, WC1E 7AE Tel: +44 (0)20 7291 4800 Fax: +44 (0)20 7323 4780 ****************************************************** Please note that if you press the 'Reply' button your message will go only to the sender of this message. If you want to reply to the whole list, use your mailer's 'Reply-to-All' button to send your message automatically to [log in to unmask] *******************************************************