More dishonesty from BBC Londons Robert Peston. The online article that went with the BBC News series (24 Sept) states : Poorer English regions, such as the North East, receive more public funding than England as a whole - though they still dont do as well as Scotland. So total public spending on services is £8,529* per head in England, £10,152 in Scotland, and £9,419 in north east England. (* The BBC uses the uncorrected Treasury PESA figures for some reason. The In Real Terms ones are found in Table 9.4, and are : England average - £8,676, Scotland - £10,327, and NE England - £9,582.) Nowhere does Peston mention London, which according to his logic, must also be one of the poorest regions in England because its 8.3 million inhabitants receive £9,598 each - which is even more that NE England. In fact its more than any other English region. As I explained earlier, the Treasurys latest PESA tables have all been recently revised - right back to 2008/9. No explanation is given for these revisions. BBC London/Peston also ignore the caveats that precede the relevant tables - for obvious reasons : Data on public expenditure by country and region. 9.20 The tables present the spending attributed to the English regions alongside the spending attributed to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Although the figures are comparable, care is still needed when making comparisons because of the different scope of public sector activities in different countries. For example, water supply is a public sector function in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but is in the private sector in England and Wales. Is anyone else seeing how BBC London operates, and why so many people in England believe Scotland is subsidised ?? Unfortunately, these are the kind of things we all have to learn about. They are the irrefutable facts, and they come from the Treasury (via the ONS). Apart from the sudden and mysterious revisions, the Treasury is actually being honest. We cant say that about BBC London, which is also very selective about which public service it uses to make a point. In the article Peston refers to Health. The revised PESA tables show NE England receiving more than the English regional average - and more than London. What Peston doesnt do is refer to per capita spending on things like education, because if he did wed all see Londoners receiving more than any other part of the UK. If hed used housing as an example, wed see Londoners receiving the highest per capita spend of the 9 English Regions, and more than DOUBLE the Scottish figure ! Once again, its what the BBC doesnt say that does the damage, and for that reason alone we all have to look at those BBC statements in detail, check the sources used, and study the real facts. Start be remembering that any English (or UK) figure is always the average figure for the NINE regions. Using that average hides the reality - that London usually gets more than the other 8, and in the pre-revisions era often received more than Scotland ! (NB London weighting is not included in the PESA tables)
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 23:14:35 +0000
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