Fact checks

From false health claims to misleading statements on immigration, politics and conflict—our expert team delivers impartial, evidence based fact checks.

5 October 2010

Andrew Lansley and the cost of NHS Bureaucracy

In his first conference speech as Health Secretary Andrew Lansley pointed to figures suggesting a spiralling cost of administration in the health service. Full Fact found that his statistics, though valid, were worth putting in context. Read

Fact check
30 September 2010

Have free schools failed in Sweden?

When Michael Gove first floated the idea of free schools, he made much of their success in Sweden. But since then, opponents have questioned whether Sweden is really such an advertisement for competition in education. So what are Swedish free schools really - a beacon or a warning? Read

Fact check
27 September 2010

Was there a 'Brain Drain' under Thatcher?

With Vince Cable announcing planned cuts to Higher Education budgets earlier this month, the outlook for the UK's universities has been under some discussion. But is the Chair of a Lords Committee right to point to Lady Thatcher's Government as an example of the damage cuts can do to academia? Read

Fact check
20 September 2010

How big is the state-private school attainment gap?

Education Secretary Michael Gove today cited evidence presented in a John Humphrys documentary back at the BBC presenter on this morning's Today programme, suggesting that Britain had the widest gap between attainment levels in state and private schools in the world. Does the evidence back him up? Read

Fact check
16 September 2010

Do workers really earn more in the public sector?

The publication of an Office for National Statistics report earlier this week has been hailed as evidence that workers earn more in the public sector than the private sector by certain sections of the media. But is this what the evidence is really telling us? Read

Fact check
15 September 2010

Is the UK's defence budget exceptional?

The scope and speed of the government's strategic defence review has drawn criticism from MPs and army personnel. But some say in defence of cuts that the UK's military expenditure is exceptionally high. Is this a fair claim? Read

Fact check
14 September 2010

How many special needs children are misdiagnosed?

Coverage of today's Ofsted report into pupils with special educational needs (SEN) contains a number of contradictory media claims about the number of children who are potentially misdiagnosed as having SEN. We look who got their figures right, and who slipped up. Read

Fact check
14 September 2010

Do tobacco display bans cut teen smoking?

Debates over tobacco regulation are always divisive, and the government's pending decision over whether to go ahead with cigarette display bans is no exception. Anti-smoking campaigners have claimed that evidence from abroad shows such measures to be effective, but worried retailers dispute this. Read

Fact check
3 September 2010

Debts and deficits: are Ed Balls' economic claims sound?

Labour Leadership hopeful Ed Balls used a slot on this morning's Today programme to attack the Coalition Government's deficit reduction proposals. But in making his defence of the previous administration's record, was Mr Balls economical with the truth? Read

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