The claim that the UK government has been spending seven times over the odds for toner cartridges has been challenged by the non-profit fast-checking organisation.
The UK non-profit fact-checking organisation Full Fact
has launched an inquiry into the recent procurement story in which the UK government claimed “better than expected” savings for the taxpayer to the approximate sum of £5.5 billion ($8.5 billion/€6.9 billion) as a result of an efficiency drive.
The claims, made by Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude, have been baulked by UK national newspaper the Sun, which published the claim that the government had actually been paying vastly exaggerated amounts for toner cartridges: “Mr Maude said some departments had been paying seven times more than others for the same printer ink.”
The Financial Times attempted to clarify both figures by publicising a comment from Maude saying that “[Sir Philip Green’s efficiency review] had discovered that some parts of the government were paying seven times as much for black toner cartridges as others.”
Full Fact notes that similar claims regarding the wildly varied cost of laptops were made in 2011, as a Sky News reporter uncovered that the IT spending report was built on false figures.
On inspection of the efficiency review, Full Fact remarks that “printer cartridges were indeed one of the products highlighted as having a different purchase price in different parts of the government” but query Sir Philip’s assertions that the variance is a more modest 4.5 times larger than the lowest. Figures given for the highest price is £398 ($620/€506), with the lowest price at £86 ($134/€109), creating a differential of 78 percent.
Full Fact has since placed a Freedom of Information request in a bid to find out the details.