Mea Culpa

I'm afraid I have been misleading you.

In the past, I have reported a government spend of £43m on smoking cessation arm-twisting services. Whenever the page is linked to, however, it disappears soon after, for some strange reason. It's almost as if there is something to hide.

New figures, though, show that I've been wrong all along. The total wasted spent has always been nearer to £52m.

My apologies.

Of course, since then the recession has bitten hard. As a result, public sector belt-tightening has, naturally, led to such expenditure being ...

Figures released showed almost a 20% rise in spending to £60.6 million, almost £9 million more than the same period in 2008.

... only increased by 20%.

Those frontline services must be protected, remember?