1/06/2007

Obsessed with statistics, but not the obvious ones

The BBC reports that the head of the Prison Service, Phil Wheatly, does not know how many prisoners have absconded from Open Prisons. Read it HERE.

So what is he admitting to ? Basically, it is an admission that the government do not know how many people are on the run, how many should be in prison, how many actually are in prison, or indeed, their arse from their elbow !

This government has an obsession with statistics. School league tables, NHS targets, even baby names, yet when it comes to a basic requirement of government, to ensure that those sent to prison for committing crimes are actually serving their sentences, this government does not know the answer.

For a government obsessed with labeling its opposition, both Lib Dem and Tory, as being soft on crime, the government ought to be looking at itself much more and asking "Are we up to the job ?"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is a classic case of headlines not quite matching the story. All of the data is known, but is not centrally compiled on one database.

Phil Wheatley reasons that a new database will not help catch the absconders, nor, indeed, will it prevent them from running away. By setting up a database when he thinks it is pointless, he is admitting to wasting taxpayers' money.

I’d put it down to Labour’s 3rd term blues…

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