Memorandum from the Equality and Human
Rights Commission
WHO WE
ARE AND
WHAT WE
DO
1. The Equality and Human Rights Commission
(EHRC) was established on 1 October 2007 and is working to eliminate
discrimination and hatred, prejudice and hostility against different
groups, reduce inequality, protect human rights and to build good
relations, ensuring that everyone has a fair chance to participate
in society.
2. The Commission is a non-departmental
public body (NDPB) established under the Equality Act 2006 and
is accountable for its public funds, but independent of government.
SUMMARY
3. This submission is in relation to the
content of the census questions . It develops some of the points
made in our earlier submission and additionally raises the issue
of an income question on the census. The key points are:
— The inclusion of a sexual orientation
question is important in making the census relevant and useful
in relation to equalities legislation and it is possible for the
data to be sufficiently reliable.
— A second disability question in
line with the Scottish census is necessary for this information
to be reliable and useful.
— It is vital for an income question—at
the very least a household income question—to be included
in the census if policy and service delivery is to take proper
account of socio-economic inequality. The experiences and needs
of the other identity groups covered in the census are very different
at different levels of income and without an income question the
value of many other aspects of the census data is much reduced.
It is important to begin to get more accurate population estimates
of equality groups at different levels of income.
— In prioritising the identification of
the minority ethnic groups Jews and Sikhs via the religion question,
the question has been made less effective for identifying those
with non-religious beliefs and those without beliefs. A non-leading
question needs to be developed which would collect the identity
of a wider range of groups covered by the equality legislation.
4. We recognise that there are difficult
decisions to be made in terms of the questions that are included
in the space available. Our priority order for additional questions
are
— Sexual identity (because of the high
user demand and belief that the data that would be derived would
be sufficiently reliable in its own terms)
— Second disability question (because of
the evidence that shows the unreliability of the single question
on its own and the high user demand for as accurate as possible
disability data)
— Household income (because of the increasing
importance of issues around socio-economic equality and the need
to have this as a classifying variable to usefully analyse other
questions in the census)
5. The judgement that we would make is that
the reliability from these questions is sufficient given the importance
of their inclusion and that other data developments in other surveys
do not reduce the need for these within the census.
6. It is obviously right that Parliament
should weigh up the priorities in terms of what changes/omissions
would need to be made to other parts of the census in order to
allow these questions to be included. But if the Committee is
interested in our views on some candidates for such changes, we
would be happy to discuss at the oral session.
SEXUAL ORIENTATION
7. The following points need to be re-iterated
in terms of the need for a sexual identity question to be included
(a) New legislation is increasing the demand
for data on sexual orientation to meet information needs of public
sector duties and equality monitoring generally. The Equality
Bill currently going through Parliament is expected to increase
demand substantially for baseline data on the Lesbian, Gay and
Bisexual (LBG) population in order to support the information
needs of public bodies who will have to comply with much broader
public sector duties to promote equality. This includes bodies
operating at a local level, where the census would be the only
source of sufficient information, even if sexual orientation data
is collected on large national surveys in the future.
(b) Inclusion of a sexual orientation question
is important for the census to meet user need. In the consultations
undertaken by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on the
content of the 2011 census, high user demand from stakeholders
placed sexual orientation in the highest category of need. The
census outputs will serve public policy needs until the early
2020s and the data from the census and Integrated Household Survey
combined would allow the urgent need to establish population estimates
of the LGB population to be met. LGB individuals should have the
opportunity to identify themselves in the census to the same extent
as other groups covered by equalities legislation. For the census
to be fully relevant it needs to give equal treatment to this
equality strand as to the others, all of which are covered in
the census. Inclusion on the census would also help establish
the general acceptability of collecting data on this topic. Not
including a sexual orientation question is widely perceived to
marginalise and exclude the LGB population.
(c) An on-line survey[5]
of nearly 3,000 people with minority sexual orientations suggests
that high proportions of these respondents segregate themselves
into particular areas or occupations because of fears that their
sexual orientation will not be accepted in some places. This is
potentially damaging for individuals and the economy and these
patterns need to be better understood to help guide local services
and interventions. Only the census will deliver this.
(d) Inclusion of a sexual orientation question
will yield sufficiently reliable data. The Commission has
been arguing for the inclusion of a question on this topic for
over a year and still believes that it is appropriate and possible
to include one on a voluntary basis in the same way as the question
on religion is included. The Sexual Identity Project carried out
by ONS has demonstrated that it is possible to collect data on
this topic and has in the process developed a question that could
be used.
(e) In the above mentioned on-line survey of
nearly 3000 people with minority sexual orientations and 2000
heterosexual orientations, nearly 80% of heterosexual respondents
and nearly 85% of those with minority sexual orientations supported
or did not mind the inclusion of a sexual identity question in
the census.
(f) Although a minority of people may identify
differently in the census process than they might in surveys where
responses are more private, research suggests this is a relatively
small minority and the data on those identifying with minority
sexual orientations within the household that the census would
deliver would be valuable in its own right. It should be noted
that similar issues of accuracy or privacy could equally apply
to other questions such as the disability or religious ones, but
are not seen as a barrier to their inclusion in the census[6].
DISABILITY
8. The Commission sees a strong need
for a second question on disability, in line with the two questions
proposed in Scotland. The proposal for Scotland involves asking
a question about specific health conditions, such as mental health
and specific impairments such as being deaf and then asking the
general question proposed in the England and Wales census on whether
the respondent has a limiting health condition or disability.
Inclusion of the prior question as proposed for Scotland is necessary
for both reasons of reliability and relevance/usefulness.
9. In respect of reliability, research suggests
that some areas, such as mental health, are under-reported in
general questions on disability/health conditions (particularly
as the proposed question does not explicitly indicate that it
covers both physical and mental health conditions and disabilities).
In terms of relevance and usefulness it is clear that the issues
and support requirements of, say, deaf people, are substantially
different from, say, people with mental health conditions. Failure
to distinguish different disabilities at this level make the relevance
of the census data very poor for local service provision or for
helping local authorities to prioritise activities within the
duties laid on them by equalities legislation.
INCOME
10. There is strong user demand for this
question to be included. The issues around poverty and around
socio-economic equality remain highly important. In understanding
properly the experiences and consequent service planning needs
of different equality groups, it is necessary to understand their
income distribution at local, regional and national level. The
full value of the other questions in the census cannot be derived
without this. The arguments for and against the income question
have been summarised in the submission to the committee by Professor
Philip Rees and we will not repeat them.
11. Although there may be initial negative
reactions to the inclusion of an income question, this was also
the case when the ethnic minority question was added, but this
has not persisted, rather the debate has moved on to what question
best captures ethnicity rather than whether it should be captured
at all. This is likely to be the case with the household income
question—and indeed a sexual identity question—and
there needs to be some leadership in these areas, as there was
in the case of ethnicity.
12. Although there are issues about gender
in relation to the collection of household income data rather
than individual income data, we believe that at the very minimum
the Scottish decision to include a household income variable within
the household part of the census should be followed in England
and Wales.
RELIGION
13. The Commission previously raised an
issue concerning the religion question in our submission to the
PASC in June, ie that the religion question must not be a leading
question in terms of assuming a religion and must cover belief
as well as religion in line with equalities legislation in order
to make the information reliable and useful.
14. The reference to the leading nature
of the question refers to the wording of the question stem which
is "What is your religion?" Stakeholders have raised
concerns that this biases the question towards specific religions
and away from the "no religion" response. In fact different
question wording has been shown to result in a much higher percentage
with no religion.
15. Equalities legislation covers both religious
and "similar" non-religious beliefs as well as those
without such beliefs. The current question only covers religion
both in the question stem and in the answers, eg "no religion"
and "any other religion". We would like to see further
work carried out by ONS to extend religion questions to cover
other relevant concepts and provide data on other belief groups.
16. The issue of ensuring the question is
not leading is clearly important in a question designed to measure
broad affiliation, which is the stated aim of the currently proposed
census question.
November 2009
5 The report from this survey with details of the sampling
and some key findings is published on the EHRC website. The sample
was taken from a self-selected panel who have signed up to take
part in online surveys. Back
6
The report from this survey with details of the sampling and some
key findings is published on the EHRC website. The sample was
taken from a self-selected panel who have signed up to take part
in online surveys. Back
| 
