THREAD: Is the Govt changing its cherrypicking strategy on child poverty claims?

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE

1. What PM wrongly claimed on child poverty in 2019, earning @StatsRegulation rebuke

2. What PM claimed on child poverty at PMQs on 18 Nov 20

In the first statement, the PM used 2010 as a baseline. At the time, relative poverty was rising and absolute poverty was historically weak - we could not see where the 400,000 claim had come from.

An earlier thread on the PM's past claims https://t.co/AKNrOAsxc0
In the PMQs claim he talks about the last 10 yrs.

If he means since 2010, he'd be repeating his incorrect claim.

Does he mean the last 10 years for which we have statistics?

That would be starting at 2009/10 - under LAB & well before benefit cuts started to bite from 2012
Let's take a look, first, at the relative child poverty measure

Looking at the last 10 years, child poverty has RISEN by 200,000 (BHC) or 300,000 (BHC)
Can the PM's 400,000 claim be borne out by the absolute child poverty stats? Remember, we normally expect this figure to fall, as society gets richer

No, absolute child poverty fell by 100,000 on both BHC/AHC - a historically weak performance
Can the PM's claim to have cut child poverty by 400,000 be from the material deprivation measures?

No - because the new suite of measures goes back 9, not 10 yrs

No - we've seen a small fall on one measure and a small rise on the other
So, where is the 400,000 figure from?

The closest the PM can come to that would be if his baseline was even earlier and focused only on the BHC absolute poverty measure
But this throws up some quirks/problems:

1. 2008/09 is obviously going back 11 yrs, not 10 yrs. So the PM's statement was inaccurate.

2. This would be only apply to the BHC absolute measure. There was a 300,000 RISE on the AHC relative measure in the same period
3. Significantly, it appears Govt has changed its strategy of claiming poverty reductions by cherrypicking statistics for the years since 2010

The cherrypicking strategy was something I raised with @StatsRegulation 3 yrs ago & got a sympathetic response https://t.co/4JTcrSjnae
It appears the Govt is now cherrypicking which years it uses for its child poverty claims

The record after 2010 is so poor, it seems it is reaching back as far 2008.

Including that year under Gordon Brown seems to give the PM 300,000 of his 400,000 claim.
To recap, I don't know for certain where the 400,000 claim comes from, but it seems to be from the BHC absolute measure over 11 years.

If that's true, then I'd urge Govt to spend more time on actually tackling rising child poverty than creative ways to hide that reality

ENDS
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(gAyatri dhyAna shlOka)
• This shloka to meditate personified form of वेदमाता गायत्री was given by Bhagwaan Brahma to Sage yAgnavalkya (याज्ञवल्क्य).

• 14th shloka of गायत्री कवचम् which is taken from वशिष्ठ संहिता, goes as follows..


• मुक्ता-विद्रुम-हेम-नील धवलच्छायैर्मुखस्त्रीक्षणै:।
muktA vidruma hEma nIla dhavalachhAyaiH mukhaistrlkShaNaiH.

• युक्तामिन्दुकला-निबद्धमुकुटां तत्वार्थवर्णात्मिकाम्॥
yuktAmindukalA nibaddha makutAm tatvArtha varNAtmikam.

• गायत्रीं वरदाभयाङ्कुश कशां शुभ्रं कपालं गदाम्।
gAyatrIm vardAbhayANkusha kashAm shubhram kapAlam gadAm.

• शंखं चक्रमथारविन्दयुगलं हस्तैर्वहन्ती भजै॥
shankham chakramathArvinda yugalam hastairvahantIm bhajE.

This shloka describes the form of वेदमाता गायत्री.

• It says, "She has five faces which shine with the colours of a Pearl 'मुक्ता', Coral 'विद्रुम', Gold 'हेम्', Sapphire 'नील्', & a Diamond 'धवलम्'.

• These five faces are symbolic of the five primordial elements called पञ्चमहाभूत:' which makes up the entire existence.

• These are the elements of SPACE, FIRE, WIND, EARTH & WATER.

• All these five faces shine with three eyes 'त्रिक्षणै:'.