Ministry of Justice

The Ministry of Justice has been reprimanded by the Whitehall statistics watchdog for publishing misleading information about the outcome of a prison programme.

In a report on the Creating Future Opportunities (CFO) programme, an initiative by HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) to help ex-offenders in prison or on probation to find work or learn new skills, MoJ statisticians hailed the scheme as a success.

The first page of the 20-page Justice Data Lab report, published in April, claims that CFO reduces reoffending among people who take part. The second page offers guidance to the media about how to report the findings, stating: “What you can say about the one-year reoffending rate: ‘This analysis provides evidence that support from HMPPS CFO may decrease the number of proven reoffenders during a one-year period.’ What you cannot say about the one-year reoffending rate: ‘This analysis provides evidence that support from HMPPS CFO increases/has no effect on the reoffending rate of its participants.’”

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