As I stated in the update to my blog post of the 8th of December the Times only published my correction letter in edited form. As a result 19 other MPs and I have co-signed the following letter to the editor asking for a full correction. Dear Sir Re: Benefit claimant figures totally inaccurate As Members of Parliament for the areas highlighted in your 28th of November article, “Welfare benefit appeals see costs soaring”, we are writing to express our dismay at the fact that you have not corrected the grossly inaccurate figures used within it. As Nadhim Zahawi MP, pointed out in his letter to you, none of the figures quoted for your top 20 areas were correct, however you chose not to include this paragraph when you published the letter on the 8th of December. In the piece you wrongly stated that the largest increase in benefit claimants in the country was in Ribble Valley, with an increase of 181.7%. In reality Ribble Valley saw a decrease of 2.36% between May 2010 and May 2011, and all but 7 of the 20 areas you highlighted saw a decrease in claimant numbers (see enclosed). The largest increase anywhere in the country was 4 per cent, significantly below the 181.7% quoted, whilst 65 percent of Local Authority areas recorded a decrease in claimant numbers. This Government is committed to tackling the something for nothing culture left behind by the Labour government, and with the introduction of universal credit we will ensure that work always pays. Already we have seen a national fall of 0.68% in the number of people claiming benefits and we expect this to continue to fall, despite the tough economic situation we find ourselves in. As well as being wholly inaccurate the figures used in your article give entirely the wrong impression of, not only the progress we are making, but the situation in the country at large and therefore need correcting. Yours faithfully Alan Duncan MP, Anne Main MP, Annette Brooke MP, Ben Wallace MP, Caroline Nokes MP, Chris Grayling MP, David Gauke MP, Dominic Grieve MP, George Freeman MP, Jeremy Wright MP, Jake Berry MP, James Duddridge MP, Jeremy Lefroy MP, Kwasi Kwarteng MP, Mark Pawsey MP, Mel Stride MP, Nigel Adams MP, Richard Harrington MP, Sam Gyimah MP, Nadhim Zahawi MP Update 16th December The Times has (£) printed a correction and reprinted their map with the correct figures for the 25 areas highlighted. Their correction: "In a news item which appeared last month (Welfare benefit appeals see costs soaring, November 28), we published data on the levels of benefits claims over the coalition’s first year in power. It has now emerged that a production error meant that the information we included was incorrect. As part of the item, we included incorrect details of the changing benefits claims in 25 local authorities. Today, we have included an updated map showing the actual change to the number of people claiming benefits in May 2011 compared to May 2010. An accompanying news story stated that “more than 20 local authorities had seen the number of people claiming benefits increase by 50 per cent or more since the coalition came to power”. This was based on the same production error and was also incorrect. No local authorities saw a rise of that size, while most saw the number of benefits claimants fall over the period. Overall, data from the Department for Work and Pensions show that the number of people claiming benefits fell by 0.66 per cent between May 2010 and May this year. Ministers have begun a programme to check whether the 2.56 million people on incapacity benefit are actually fit to work."