| This wonderfully provocative piece appeared on 28th May 2015 - after all who would argue against our parents and grand parents living a life of dignity in their own homes? The full article is here. |
(To be clear, before you read on, this is not a post about the Care and Repair Agencies, but about the political mileage made about the funding from Welsh Government)
In what feels like this is going to become an ongoing series of blogs, we are going to look at the slight of hand, clever language used in this official communication from Welsh Government:
"The continued Welsh Government funding"; the article begins, which immediately begs two questions and an observation: The question: if this funding is continued, what was it before? £1, £1m or £10m - has the funding gone up or down? The observation: "Welsh Government funding", Government is not a benign benefactor, the money is ours that we paid into the system, so please try and make the claim at least sound humble.
"Estimates show every pound invested...."*; who made these estimates, and can we please have a link to the source documentation. Without reference, opinion stated as fact is, well, err, opinion and not open to scrutiny.
In a similar vein, "help transform the lives of more than 40,000 older...."; whilst the number I'm sure is representative of the quantity of people served by this initiative, the word "transform" is highly emotive. Is this claim based on a survey of these 40,000 and their overwhelming feedback that their lives have been duly transformed? Again, as there is not link to the source of this claim, we are left to wonder.
It continues - "As people across Wales live longer, healthier lives...."; longer I can accept, but is it true that we, as a nation are healthier longer into our old age?
"I’m proud the £6 million I have announced today....."; our question remains - "Is this £6m an increase, decrease or the same as last year" - without reference to previous periods, we can't make a judgement over the relative merit of this statement. What if it was £200m last year?
The Minister was kind enough to visit Betty Probert, who had this to say:
"I can’t praise Care and Repair enough. It’s amazing how a few adaptations have changed the quality of my life, enabling me to continue living in my home which I love." - which amazingly has the exactly the same sentiments (and same vocabulary) as the Ministers statement directly above.
In what feels like this is going to become an ongoing series of blogs, we are going to look at the slight of hand, clever language used in this official communication from Welsh Government:
"The continued Welsh Government funding"; the article begins, which immediately begs two questions and an observation: The question: if this funding is continued, what was it before? £1, £1m or £10m - has the funding gone up or down? The observation: "Welsh Government funding", Government is not a benign benefactor, the money is ours that we paid into the system, so please try and make the claim at least sound humble.
"Estimates show every pound invested...."*; who made these estimates, and can we please have a link to the source documentation. Without reference, opinion stated as fact is, well, err, opinion and not open to scrutiny.
In a similar vein, "help transform the lives of more than 40,000 older...."; whilst the number I'm sure is representative of the quantity of people served by this initiative, the word "transform" is highly emotive. Is this claim based on a survey of these 40,000 and their overwhelming feedback that their lives have been duly transformed? Again, as there is not link to the source of this claim, we are left to wonder.
It continues - "As people across Wales live longer, healthier lives...."; longer I can accept, but is it true that we, as a nation are healthier longer into our old age?
"I’m proud the £6 million I have announced today....."; our question remains - "Is this £6m an increase, decrease or the same as last year" - without reference to previous periods, we can't make a judgement over the relative merit of this statement. What if it was £200m last year?
The Minister was kind enough to visit Betty Probert, who had this to say:
"I can’t praise Care and Repair enough. It’s amazing how a few adaptations have changed the quality of my life, enabling me to continue living in my home which I love." - which amazingly has the exactly the same sentiments (and same vocabulary) as the Ministers statement directly above.
In the final paragraph: "£5,468,000 will go to Care and Repair Agencies...." - no problems with that - except there are 22 of these Agencies spread across Wales - is this money split equally throughout Wales? Overall, we would commend the allocation of public money to protect the dignity and independence of our older generation - but don't lose sight of that fact - "it's public money" and knowing how, where and why we spend it is essential. Some transparency and less spin please Welsh Government. |
* We have lodged a freedom of information request to get to the bottom of this claim.