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3 Dec 2009 : Column 953Wcontinued
Baha'i Community
(302270, 302284)
(x) There are no plans to place such guidance in the Library. ONS considers any such guidance to be covered by legal and professional privilege, and that its publication may have a detrimental effect on ONS's public responsibilities and may adversely affect any potential prosecution undertaken in respect of anyone refusing to make a census return. (302271)
(xi) Representatives of the Office for National Statistics have been fully involved in discussions with Eurostat to agree a core set of information requirements across the EU in terms of the definitions used, question wording, and the content of statistical outputs for the 2011 round of European censuses.
No proposals have been made to harmonise the way in which such information should be collected. (302272)
(xii) The provisional targets for the 2011 Census are that the overall response rates should be at least as high as that for the 2001 Census (94 per cent), and that the response rates in the lowest 5 per cent of local authorities in 2001 should be increased to at least 80 per cent. These will be reviewed in the light of the 2009 Census rehearsal and reported in the business case for the Census to be published in spring 2010.
Value for money has been assessed in terms of the financial impact that, in the absence of a census, errors in population statistics would have on the national decision making process that the census information supports, including resource allocation from central government to local authorities and primary care trusts, and the investment decisions made by commercial companies relating to store location and product ranges.
The financial benefits realised by the Census significantly outweigh its costs. This is detailed in the Census business case, which has been reviewed by HM Treasury and the Office for Government Commerce.
A précis of this analysis was made available to the Lords Committee on the Merits of Statutory Instruments when it considered the Draft Census Order in October, and published in its 29th Report of the 2008-09 Session on 5 November 2009, a copy of which is available at
(302273)
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) if she will place in the Library a copy of the results of the Census pilot undertaken in 2007; [302274]
(2) if she will place in the Library a copy of the communication plan and strategy for the 2011 Census; [302294]
(3) if she will place in the Library a copy of the business case for the 2011 Census; [302431]
(4) what timetable has been set for the printing of the household forms for the 2011 Census; [302275]
(5) how many staff will be hired for the purposes of undertaking door-to-door communications for the 2011 Census; [302276]
(6) whether contracts let in respect of the 2011 Census include break clauses; [302277]
(7) assessment has been made of the merits of using existing public sector and commercial datasets to replace the (a) 2011 Census and (b) 2021 Census; [302278]
(8) what estimate was made of the number and proportion of illegal immigrants who completed the 2001 Census; and whether she has made an assessment of the likely effect of the proposed inclusion of new questions on citizenship and intention to remain in the UK on the number of illegal immigrants who complete the 2011 Census; [302279]
(9) what the response rate was (a) in absolute numbers, (b) as a percentage of postal surveys sent and (c) as a percentage of the resident population in each of the four areas in the 2009 Census rehearsal; [302280]
(10) for what reasons each question which was included in the 2001 Census and which is not proposed to be included in the 2011 Census has not been included in that Census; [302282]
(11) what estimate she has made of the cost to the public purse of questions to be included in the 2011 Census which were not contained in the 2001 Census. [302295]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Jil Matheson, dated December 2009:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent questions regarding the 2011 Census. I have grouped together the responses to those questions where there are common themes.
(i,ii,iii) Information on the evaluation of the 2007 Census test is already available from the ONS website at
and is thus available to the Library.
ONS has not published an overarching communications strategy or plan. Instead, many smaller more detailed plans are currently used within the census programme to deal with specific issues.
However, Chapter 2 of the Government's White Paper Helping to shape tomorrow (Cm 7513), published in December 2008, deals with the programme of consultation at paragraphs 2.1-2.12. Paragraphs 4.45-4.53 in Chapter 4 cover local authority and community liaison, and paragraphs 4.67-4.73 summarise the publicity and marketing work being undertaken.
The 2011 Census business case, which has already been scrutinised by HM Treasury and the Office for Government Commerce, is still a working document until final decisions on census operational issues have been made following a full analysis of the Census Rehearsal.
As noted above in answer to Question 302273, the business case is scheduled for publication in the spring 2010 and will be placed in the House of Commons Library at that time. It was made available to the Public Administration Select Committee in June 2009 for its hearing on the Census (but not put into the public domain because of the commercial in confidence information it contains), but a precis was made available to the Lords Committee on the Merits of Statutory Instruments when it considered the draft Census Order in October and published in its 29th Report of the 2008-09 Session on 5 November.(302274, 302294 and 302431)
(iv) The content and layout of the questionnaires are scheduled to be finalised in mid December 2009 after the Draft Census Order has been approved. Contractors will start the initial printing of the 30 million or more forms in mid-March 2010 and complete this in July. This timetable enables sufficient time for the data capture system, designed on the basis of the printed forms, to be competed and fully tested. (302275)
(v) Some 35,000 temporary field staff will be employed:
to deliver the 5 per cent of census questionnaires that will not be delivered via the postal service;
to visit households to remind then to return their questionnaire and to offer any assistance; and
to collect questionnaires from communal establishments. (302276)
(vi) Yes. Every commercial contract agreed in respect of the 2011 Census programme contains break clauses. This is normal public procurement practice. As the majority of contracts are fixed price, ONS would incur financial penalties if these break clauses were invoked for reasons other than poor contractor performance. (302277)
(vii) In 2003, the Office for National Statistics undertook a strategic review of a number of possible alternative ways of collecting the type of information traditionally provided by a census to meet users' needs. ONS concluded that there were no sufficiently comprehensive or proven alternative sources of such information and that conducting a traditional census in 2011 was the only viable way to collect and provide the range of information required to the level of quality demanded. The findings of the review can be found at
ONS are currently investigating alternative approaches to collecting such information beyond 2011. (302278)
(viii) No estimate has been made of the number and proportions of illegal immigrants who completed the 2001 Census. The final results were adjusted to take account of the estimated non-response across all population groups.
Similarly, the 2011 Census will make no attempt to identify specifically people who are living here illegally.
ONS has assessed the potential impact of inclusion of the citizenship and intended length of stay questions through a postal test including 10,000 households sampled from areas with high number of migrants, and through focus groups and interviews with recent migrants commissioned from the National Centre for Social Research. No impact on response rates was found The results of the research can be found at
(ix) Participation in the Census rehearsal is voluntary, which suppresses response rate considerably. The operation is not yet complete. As at 25 November 2009 response rates were as shown in the table below:
Areas | Number of questionnaire returned | Percentage of questionnaires returned |
Birmingham was not formally a part of the rehearsal, but questionnaires were distributed to households in Birmingham in order to test different field operation management structures.
The numbers of people included in returned questionnaires will not be known until the questionnaires have been processed, which is due for completion in spring 2010. (302280)
(x) As detailed in the Government's White Paper Helping to shape tomorrow, published in December 2008, the 2001 Census questions on household amenities and professional qualifications are not being included in the 2011 Census.
The previous long-standing census question on whether or not households have exclusive use of either a bath/shower or toilet amenities, or both, is no longer regarded as providing a sufficiently discriminative indicator in the allocation of resources for housing development and regeneration.
Nor will the 2001 question on whether people have specific professional qualifications such as teaching, medical, nursing and/or dental qualifications be included. Consultation indicated that sufficient information to meet users' needs could be collected by the inclusion of a single tick-box for 'professional qualifications' to be recorded in the qualifications question.
In addition, the 2001 questions on lowest floor level of the household's accommodation and the number of people employed at the person's place of work are also not being retained. Consultation with users has indicated that there is less of a requirement for this information compared with other Census topics being proposed. (302282)
(xi) It is not possible to identify the specific cost of including those questions that are new to the Census in 2011. The cost of adding a fourth page of questions per person to the household questionnaire is £24 million. This does not equate to the direct cost of the new questions, as the previous three pages per person questionnaire on which the comparison is based contained a mix of 2001 and new questions, but it is the best available estimate. (302295)
Mr. Hurd: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office (1) what the minimum duration of stay is that will require an individual to register as an overnight guest and disclose name, sex and date of birth in the 2011 Census; whether overnight guests who are children will be required to register; whether guests at a house party will be required to register; and what personal liability householders will have should overnight guests refuse to disclose personal information; [302427]
(2) whether hotels and bed and breakfast establishments will be required to register their overnight guests and disclose information on name, sex and date of birth for the 2011 Census; [302454]
(3) how many pages long were the (a) individual and (b) household forms in each of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland for the (i) 1991 Census and (ii) 2001 Census; and what the estimated page length is for each of those in the 2011 Census based on the (A) Census rehearsal and (B) subsequent planning; [302428]
(4) what the estimated error rate is for the 2011 Census exercise in relation to the questions on the number of bedrooms; and whether the information on the number of bedrooms will be cross-referenced with any other dataset separate from the 2011 Census; [302429]
(5) how much and what proportion of the budget for the 2011 Census had (a) been spent, (b) been allocated for expenditure and (b) not been allocated on the latest date for which figures are available; [302281]
(6) what assessment she has made of the reasons for the difference between the likely cost of the 2011 Census and the cost of the 2001 Census; [302283]
(7) what the cost to the public purse was of the (a) 1991 Census and (b) 2001 Census in (i) cash terms and (ii) real terms in 2009 prices. [302489]
Angela E. Smith: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Letter from Jil Matheson, dated December 2009:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent questions regarding the 2011 Census. I have grouped together the responses to those questions where there are common themes.
i) What the minimum duration of stay is that will require an individual to register as an overnight guest, including name, sex and date of birth in the 2011 Census; whether overnight guests who are children will be required to register; whether guests at a house party will be required to register; and what personal liability householders will have should overnight guests refuse to disclose personal information. 302427
ii) Whether hotels and bed and breakfast establishments will be required to register their overnight guests, including information on name, sex and date of birth, for the 2011 Census. 302454
iii) How many pages long were the (a) individual and (b) household forms in each of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland for the (i) 1991 Census and (ii) 2001 Census; and what the estimated page length is for each of those in the 2011 Census based on the (A) Census Rehearsal and (B) subsequent planning. 302428
iv) What the estimated error rate is for the 2011 Census exercise in relation to the questions on the number of bedrooms; and whether the information on the number of bedrooms will be cross-referenced with any other dataset separate from the 2011 Census. 302429
v) How much and what proportion of the budget for the 2011 Census had (a) been spent, (b) been allocated for expenditure and (b) not been allocated on the latest date for which figures are available. 302281
vi) What assessment she has made of the reasons for the difference between the cost of the 2011 Census and the cost of the 2001 Census. 302283
vii) What the cost to the public purse was of the (a) 1991 Census and (b) 2001 Census in (i) cash terms and (ii) real terms in 2009 prices. 302489
i,ii)As in all previous censuses (but with the exception of 2001) in addition to recording information for all usual residents at an address on census night, householders are required to record the details of any non-resident persons present on census night, including children and house party guests if they stay overnight. In these previous censuses the same set of information as collected from usual residents has been required from such visitors; for 2011, however, only the limited set of four questions will be asked to reduce the burden.
The minimum duration of stay that will require an individual to be recorded as a visitor is the night of Sunday 27 March 2011.
Subject to Parliamentary approval of the secondary legislation for the 2011 Census, the householder is legally liable to ensure that a complete return is made in respect of every resident and visitor present on census night. However, it would be an offence for anyone present in a household on census night to refuse to provide the relevant information to the householder.
Managers of hotels, bed and breakfast establishments, and guest houses that can only accommodate fewer than ten guests are required to record the visitor information for overnight guests. However, managers of such premises that can accommodate ten or more guests are required only to record the number of any visitors staying overnight. No details of such visitors will be recorded. (302427, 302454)
iii) The household form for the 2011 Census in England and Wales will comprise four pages of questions relating to the household itself, four pages of questions for each household member with space for up to six household members, and an additional page available to record some information about visitors. The form also contains three pages of notes and instructions to assist the form filler, amounting to 32 pages in total.
The form is thus the same length as used in the Census Rehearsal, and is 12 pages more than the 2001 form. While the inclusion of some of additional questions has lengthened the form, a more significant factor in its increased size is its redesign in order to:
accommodate an additional household member so as to reduce the number of continuation forms required for larger households; and
make it easier to complete, specifically by introducing two columns of questions per page instead of the three adopted in 2001 and an additional page of notes and instructions.
The 1991 household form comprised 12 pages but was in a completely different matrix format and printed in a smaller font.
The individual person form for 2011 contains four pages of questions plus three pages of notes and instructions, compared with three and a half pages of questions and half a page of notes in both the 2001 and 1991 Censuses.
The census is a devolved matter in Scotland and Northern Ireland, but I understand from the respective Registrars General that the intention is that the 2011 Census questionnaires there should be of a similar length, except that, because of the smaller average household size the household form in Scotland will accommodate only five household members.(302428)
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