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Dear Friend,
In the last week Full Fact has been looking into several claims around persistent absence in schools in England. This follows an interview with education minister Nick Gibb on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
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These included claims that “almost a third” of secondary school pupils missed “a big chunk” of school, that persistent absence had decreased slightly since the pandemic, and that pupils who missed at least one day during the first week of the school year were “something like 40% more likely” to become persistently absent.
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FACT CHECKS
Following a press release from the Labour party, PA Media and some newspapers including the Independent and MailOnline reported several alleged examples of extremely long hospital waits by mental health patients. These included one patient at the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh trust who supposedly waited in A&E for 36 days.
This is not correct. It is the result of an error in the data, which Labour obtained through Freedom of Information requests. The NHS trust told Full Fact that the patient visited A&E then left on the same day, before returning and being “discharged” the following month.
Following contact from Full Fact, Labour agreed that the information in its press release was wrong and said it had corrected it.
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A post on Instagram with more than 2,000 likes shows a flight-tracking map of part of the UK covered in short, parallel flight paths. Text overlaid onto the image says “CONTRAILS OR CH3MTRAILS?”, while part of the caption says “UK 2023 Flight Patterns”.
The post (which has also been shared on Facebook) appears to suggest that the unusual-looking routes shared on the map are linked to so-called ‘chemtrails’, a conspiracy theory which claims that the white lines seen behind planes are actually chemicals being deliberately sprayed into the atmosphere.These white lines in the sky are actually contrails—water vapour produced by aeroplane engines freezes at high altitude, forming long thin lines of cloud.
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A post on Facebook claims that Sir Keir Starmer took the government to court in 2003 to demand that “illegal immigrants” could receive hotel accommodation and benefit support.
It is true that Mr Starmer, before he was an MP and Leader of the Opposition, represented five asylum seekers as a barrister in a case against the government. However the 2003 case Mr Starmer was involved in did not enable all “illegal immigrants” to receive support.
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JOBS
Trusts Fundraising Manager
This is a key position within a high-performing and supportive fundraising team. You will take responsibility for our trusts fundraising strategy and management, and work alongside our Head of Fundraising, and Philanthropy Officer, to deliver the programme. You will steward existing donors (including prominent organisations such as the Nuffield Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and John Ellerman Foundation) to ensure their continued support, while also focusing on new business activity, attracting 5- and 6-figure support from trusts and foundations in the UK and beyond.
£40,000 to £48,000 per annum depending on experience.
Deadline to apply 10am Monday 11th September 2023
Full details and how to apply
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MORE FACT CHECKS
Also this week...
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Stop the spread of bad information
Find these updates useful? We'd be incredibly grateful if you could share our fact checks and help more people access good information.
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All the best,
Team Full Fact
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