Patrick Worrall

The effect was cancelled out initially by “perturbation” – a scientific way of saying that if you try to shoot badgers in one field, they don’t like it, and move to the next one.

Existing health quangos Monitor and the Care Quality Commission, expanded under the Lansley reforms, have seen staff costs rise by £28m in the last year alone.

“There are other companies making much bigger amounts of money than the operators, and enjoying much higher profit margins.”

Apprenticeships went up by 75 per cent in London from 2005/06 to 2010/11 for under-19s and by nearly 30,000 per cent for over-25s.

“So Boris has failed to honour one of his manifesto promises, and he’s missed by more than 700 bobbies, according to these statistics.”

“A drunk cyclist was more likely to get hurt – and less likely to wear a helmet. But it was the booze, not the helmet, that had the biggest impact.”

“How many medals will we win? This one’s a bit easier. The answer’s 62. Fact.”

“You essentially recruit the best people for your own organisation but instead of paying for the cost of vetting, interviewing, training and trialling them yourself, the taxpayer picks up the bill because those things are covered by the 2012 contract. You then collect from the taxpayer a second time because the people you recruited were on the Work Programme and you got them off the dole queue.”

“He’s also right that overall clinical staff levels have risen…but only if you choose your time frame carefully.”

It was a short Queen’s Speech, and for some not a very sweet one – with the government taking a beating for making no mention of some key policies. Is it the Lib Dems’ fault as Mr Cameron claims? FactCheck looks at what was missing in the Speech and why.

There have been tears, laughter, and the odd stray F-word. The London mayoral race has been high on emotion and more than usually bad-tempered. Boris Johnson has been slightly more careful with his facts, choosing to deal in aspirations rather than promises. Ken Livingstone has made some extravagant claims which have landed him in hot water. Here’s the verdict from FactCheck HQ on a very irritable election.

“We can’t remember the last time the PM came out with two whoppers in one speech.”

“This is what the government means when it talks about ‘increased staffing levels’ – that the cut is not quite as deep as first envisaged.”

Which generation has been hit hardest by the government’s austerity measures? It is the question that has been at the top of the political agenda since the budget sparked accusations that the government was raiding pensioner’s pockets with a new Granny Tax. FactCheck investigates.

“The IPPR actually thinks the figures show the reverse of what Mr Grayling wants them to show.”