Census Questions - sheer impertinence, tell them to go to Hell
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:21:43 -0000
On 20 February 2008 the European Parliament approved a Council (Framework) Census Regulation covering the harmonization of outputs from member states’ censuses of population and housing. This took affect when it was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 9 July 2008. The regulation provides for the specification of outputs, the means of submission of these to Eurostat, and the requirement to provide metadata and quality reports, to be prescribed by subordinate Commission (Implementing) Regulations. These are currently being drafted with input from the EU Legislation Task Force of which the UK is a member.
The Council Regulation which prescribes the reference year for the next round of censuses as being 2011. Thereafter, reference years will be determined by subsequent Commission Regulations. The Regulation also requires Member States to make available the results of their census by end of March 2014.
The Framework Regulation is intended to be a permanent piece of legislation concerned with establishing common rules for the decennial provision of comprehensive population and housing data to be collected from traditional census taking or from alternative sources such as surveys and registers, or from combinations of such sources.
The topics which are specified by the Regulation cover:
- Place of usual residence
- Size of locality of usual residence (urban/rural)
- Sex
- Age
- Marital status
- Economic activity status
- Occupation
- Industry
- Employment status
- Workplace
- Educational attainment
- Country of birth
- Country of citizenship
- Ever resided abroad and year of entry into country
- Place of usual residence 1 year before census
- Relationship within household
- Status within household
- Status within family
- Type of housing arrangement
- Tenure status of household
- Type of household
- Size of household
- Type of family
- Size of family
- Type of living quarters
- Type of ownership
- Location of living quarters
- Occupancy status
- Floor space/Number of rooms
- Density standard of accommodation
- Housing amenities (water supply, toilet facilities, bathing facilities, type of heating)
- Type of dwelling
- Period of construction
More details about the Framework Regulation and the implications for topic content in the 2011 Census are detailed in an article published in Population Trends 128.
Further EU legislation
The UK is an active participant in an EU Census Legislation Task Force which is advising the European Commission on the scope and content of the proposed Implementing Regulations. The Commission Regulations will set out in separate regulations: - The detail of the programme of statistical data and metadata to be provided to Eurostat by member states from the 2011 round of European censuses (based on the core topics specified by the Council Framework Regulation). Eurostat currently propose that these will be provided in the form of sets of 'hypercubes' of cross-variables at various geographical levels
- The classifications of the categories and technical specification for the topics to be covered in statistical programme
- The measures of quality assessment to be reported on. The statistical detail of the outputs to be provided by member states will be set out in secondary Implementing Regulations, to be prepared by the European Commission later this year.
Formal consultation on these issues went out to member states in March 2008 and were discussed at a meeting of the EU Census Working Group on 9-10 September 2008. ONS is liaising with GROS and NISRA in order to present a UK view.
Eurostat has also announced initial proposals for a European Census Hub by which member states could ‘pull’ the 2011 Census data specified in the Implementing Regulation. The difficulty of achieving common specifications and applying comparable statistical disclosure control methodologies across the 27 member states has been recognized as a major obstacle. Italy and Ireland have offered to take part in the pilot phase of the project by offering to make a sample of their latest census data available. Further countries have been invited to participate to this pilot phase, and ONS has agreed to prepare a submission to Eurostat setting out its own current thinking on the possibilities for similar domestic access to 2011 Census outputs.
http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/2011-census-project/legislation/european-union--eu--legislation.html
Census: Test Questions
- Why, in the 2007 census test questions published by National Statistics, English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish and Irish are provided as options for the national identity question when English, Irish and Other British are the options for the ethnic-group question; and why Irish is the only non-United Kingdom nationality given a specific option in the national identity question. [HL3237]
Lord Davies of Oldham: The information requested falls within the responsibilities of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, Director of Macroeconomics and Labour Market,to Lord Laird dated 27 April 2007, replying in the absence of the National Statistician.
The questions for the 2007 test were developed based on consultation with users of census data. The census test provides the opportunity to test new and updated questions and the test questions are not necessarily those which will be included in the census in 2011. It is apparent that demands for information from the census are greater than are likely to be able to be accommodated and difficult trade-offs will need to be made.
After the 2001 census there was strong demand for information, especially on Welsh identification—and a national identity question was introduced into government surveys such as the labour force survey from 2001 onwards. National identity information is used to measure identification with different countries of the UK, as well as nations outside the UK. The question being used for the 2007 census test specifically lists the national identities of the UK and Ireland in order to meet specific user requirements and also to harmonise with proposals for the question
30 Apr 2007 : Column WA175
to be asked in the Northern Ireland census. Other national identities are able to be recorded using a write-in box. We know that the question requires more development before it can be included in the 2011 census. However we need to know now that it would meet the user requirements before carrying out further question testing.
Another reason for measuring national identity is to separate it from ethnic group, to make it possible to record national identity as “British” at the same time as recording ethnic group as, for example, “Pakistani”. There was criticism of the 2001 ethnic group question because the only category for British was listed under the heading “White”.
A question on ethnic group was first asked in the 1991 census for the prime purpose of identifying areas with high levels of ethnic minority groups in order to help provide valuable information for planning and provision of services and monitoring racial disadvantage and social exclusion.
The categories identified in the current ethnic group question being used in the test have been developed from the frame of the 2001 census question which itself had resulted from an extensive programme of research and development. The question has adopted that mix of geographic origin and colour characteristics that testing had shown to be publicly most acceptable and from which the most useable statistics could be obtained. A separate “Irish” response category was included in the 2001 census ethnic group question as a result of representations made by census users, particularly from Irish community groups, for information to help monitor discrimination and measure health inequalities among the “Irish” population. Whilst ethnicity is clearly a dynamic characteristic when considered nationally—and the census must seek to reflect this as much as possible—an equally important criterion is the ability to compare the results from one census to another—and to that end the question must retain a degree of comparability over time.
We have recently conducted further consultation on user needs for information on ethnicity, national identity, and also language and religion from the 2011 census in England and Wales. This has focused in particular on assessing public acceptability of the descriptions of the ethnic categories. The relevant documents are available on the National Statistics website (see www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/cn_ 155.asp).
It is likely that the ethnicity classification will be updated for the 2011 census but it is not possible to confirm what questions and response categories are to be included until the consultation and testing programme is complete and formal approval is given by Parliament in 2010. A White Paper setting out the Government's proposals including the wording of any questions about ethnicity and identity is scheduled to be published in 2008.
30 Apr 2007 : Column WA176
Or
2 Official Journal of the European Union (2008). Regulation (EC) No 763/2008 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 9 July 2008 on population and housing censuses. OJEU, 13
August 2008.
3 Cabinet Office (2008). Helping to shape tomorrow. Cm 7513. The Stationery Office. ISBN
978-0-10-175132-2. See http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/2011-censusproject/
legislation/index.html
4 Scottish Government Statement (2008). Scotland’s Census 2011. SG/2008/214. ISBN 978-1-
874451-78-8. See http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/census/censushm2011/policy-andmethodology/
2011-census-gov-statement-and-supporting-docs/scotlands-census-2011-agovernment-
statement.html
http://www.unece.org/stats/documents/ece/ces/ge.41/2009/3.e.pdf
Or
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/access_to_census_data_by_law_enf
Census Questions - sheer impertinence, tell them to go to Hell
reply - nothing happens in this country unless the EU is behind it
Subject: Re: Census Questions - sheer impertinence, tell them to go to Hell
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:55:36 -0000
Is the EU behind this census? if I remember back in November 2007 an EU proposal was dropped, but it was disclosed that future regulations would make this proposal legitimate, the proposal was that the EU "DEMANDED" all women answer questions about their love life including consensual union and current consensual union.
- - sheer impertinence, tell them to go to Hell
- Yet another giant leap forward in the State poking its nose where it does not belong. Please don’t be conned by any so called assurances about the data only be used for statistical purposes and no-one will be individually identifiable. Particularly if you respond on-line I expect that all your information will be available to a large number of people at the push of a few buttons. Just like your vote in elections.
- You might get the notion that my trust in our government is low. Too right it is and with good cause don’t you think?
- We are now firmly locked into having to take serious and effective steps to defend ourselves against our own government.
- Aitken B
- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8318637.stm
- 2011 census questions published
- Every UK citizen will be surveyed in March 2011
- The full set of questions for the 2011 census - including new ones about citizenship and how well people can speak English - has been unveiled.
- The 10-yearly survey of UK residents will take place on Friday 27 March.
- It will ask about the date overseas nationals entered the UK and the length of time they intend to stay.
- Everyone in the UK on the day will be obliged to answer the questions, which also cover number of bedrooms and types of central heating in homes.
- Those who do not complete the census risk being prosecuted.
- Announcing the "major changes" in a written statement to MPs, Cabinet Office Minister Angela Smith said: "The questions have been devised to produce reliable and accurate data.
- For what purpose does the Government want to know how many bedrooms I have in my house? It really is none of their damn business. Perhaps they are looking for bedrooms to commandeer for their “guests” from round the world.
- "The Office for National Statistics has carried out extensive consultations and testing over a number of years to ensure that the questions are justified, both in terms of the need for the information and public acceptability."
- a. I seriously doubt that and b. who did they ask? not me that’s for sure.
- Identity questions
- Ms Smith also announced that census forms would be delivered by post but could be completed online.
- The government will also outsource the recruiting, training and payments to census staff as well as creating a central address register "to facilitate improved form delivery and field management".
- Yet another database for them to abuse.
- Citizens will no longer be asked if they have access to a bath or shower but will be asked how many bedrooms their property has.
- According to a specimen 2011 census on the Office for National Statistics website, they will also ask about "same sex civil partnership status" for the first time.
- My and everyone else’s gender proclivity is private and personal information and none of their bloody business. I suggest everyone should refuse to respond to this highly intrusive and very personal question. Does their arrogant nose poking know no bounds?
- The specimen census asks "how would you describe your national identity?," offering English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish, British or "other", with space to write in.
- Not “vassal of the EU”?
- The section on ethnic groups has also been expanded from 2001, with separate categories for "Gypsy or Irish Traveller" and "Arab" for the first time.
- It also asks: "How well can you speak English?... very well, well, not well or not at all."
- The ONS is using the questions in the specimen census in a series of "rehearsals" but says it does not anticipate making major changes.
- The questions to be included in the full census in 2011 will be put before Parliament in 2010.
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