Where do they get these figures from?

[Anna B]

So, student fees will be going up to £9,000 a year.

 

...Residential Care home fees are between £2,000 and £3,000 per month per person.

 

...It costs £1,000 a week to keep someone in prison.

 

.......A court case has just cost the taxpayer £5,000,000.

 

Why?

 

Do they just pluck these figures out of the air, or has someone sat down and actually costed it out? If so, I would like to see a complete breakdown of the figures please, and in glorious detail, otherwise I might just think I was being ripped off...

 

Can anyone justify these sorts of figures or are we supposed to take it on trust?

[decaff]

we're supposed to trust everything we are told. Did you not know this?

[HeadingNorth]

The cost of the prison service per annum is known; the number of people (on average) kept in prison is known; divide the one by the other to find the cost per prisoner. That one is fairly easy. I imagine nursing home costs can be calculated the same way.

 

I say "known" ... I don't mean that I personally know them, but the figures must exist, since they are bills that are paid.

[Agent Orange]

Everything gets audited, so it's natural to assume those figures have been carefully calculated.

[freezer]

If you are interested in stuff like this, you should listen to the More or Less Podcast from the BBC. (New Series starting soon). You might also like the Freakonomics books.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/more_or_less/default.stm

 

In fact most of the figures you hear are not that simple - it depends on what you measure, and how you do it.

 

Its not true to say that the figures 'must exist' - its unlikely that they do in any meaningful form, at best it will be an estimate, more likely its just totally made up to suit some political point.

[freezer]

Everything gets audited, so it's natural to assume those figures have been carefully calculated.

 

They may have been calculated, but unless you know how and why, its almost impossible to take them at face value.

 

The 'cost per prisoner' is a good example. It appears that it costs considerably MORE to keep prisoners in Privately run jails than it does in state jails - so the idea of an average is probably meainingless - and £1000 a week is certainly made up - no evidence for it all.

[Agent Orange]

They may have been calculated, but unless you know how and why, its almost impossible to take them at face value.

 

The 'cost per prisoner' is a good example. It appears that it costs considerably MORE to keep prisoners in Privately run jails than it does in state jails - so the idea of an average is probably meainingless - and £1000 a week is certainly made up - no evidence for it all.

 

Not sure, but send a FOI request to the national audit office and see what occurs.

[melthebell]

its like when they bust a massive drugs haul they always say things like "this has a street value of......" lol

[Anna B]

A good example has just been on Newsnight in a bit about The scrapping of EMA (Educational Maintainance Allowance) which is £30 a week (top rate) per pupil.

 

This apparently will save the government £15,000 a year, per child - their figures.

 

Now you don't have to be a genius to work out that £30 x 52 = £1,560 so who gets the other £13,440? Or was it just a miscalculation that we're not supposed to notice?

[dell12]

A good example has just been on Newsnight in a bit about The scrapping of EMA (Educational Maintainance Allowance) which is £30 a week (top rate) per pupil.

 

This apparently will save the government £15,000 a year, per child - their figures.

 

Now you don't have to be a genius to work out that £30 x 52 = £1,560 so who gets the other £13,440? Or was it just a miscalculation that we're not supposed to notice?

 

I think alot of money is 'matched'. So for example now tuition fees are £3250, but it costs the Uni about £7000 per pupil per annum so the other £3750 is paid by central government. So putting tuition fees up won't mean the Uni get richer, just the state pay less.

 

Perhaps the same is true for EMA, I don't know?