Census Form 2011 We live and learn a little more about the EU each day. As it is coming up to Census time once more for the United Kingdom Government to recognise just how many people are living here and how they are living most of us we have never so far minded sharing the "facts of life" with the powers that be here in the UK. However this year, the 2011 Census is very different, for the information we give is going to be shared, guess who with? The European Union. This information is in the "Official Journal of the European Union" 13.8.2008 page L 218/14. No wonder there are far more intrusive questions to answer and now we know why. How dare our British Government accept this? I have no objection to filling the usual kind of form that is for the UK alone but I will not fill in such an intrusive form that is to be shared with an organisation the people of this Country have never had a say on, nor had the opportunity to reject or accept. Do we give all the details required on the form to strangers we happen to meet in our own home town? No? Then why should foreigners want to know? Anne Palmer, Official Journal of the European Union on population and Housing Censuses http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:218:0014:0020:EN:PDF or http://eur-lex.europa.eu/JOHtml.do?uri=OJ:L:2008:218:SOM:en:HTML Census questions, forms and definitions. http://www.census.ac.uk/guides/Qf.aspx Scotland Census Form http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/files2/the-census/scotlands-census-2011-specimen-questionnaire.pdf 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. Etc. **************************** http://www.census.ac.uk/guides/inter_census.aspx International census resources. Most, but not all, countries conduct regular censuses of their populations. For many countries this is a statutory requirement,sometimes at the supranational level (e.g. the European Union). In 1995 the United Nations even passed a resolution calling on all its member countries to compile census data by 2004. However, a census is only possible with the general consent of the population and in some countries this is no longer present.For example, Germany has not taken a full census since the census planned for 1983 had to be postponed until 1987 because of public concern over the proposed use of census returns to update local population registers. The Netherlands have not had a census since 1971, following a high level of refusal in 1971, and poor test returns in 1979. Both these and a number of other countries (including Denmark) have turned to alternative data sources, particularly population and housing registers and sample surveys, as the source of population statistics. Census.ac.uk does not provide access to these international resources and cannot vouch for the quality or appropriateness of those listed below, except to say that it is believed these are some of the most significant, especially for modern census data. Etc. The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Mr Francis Maude): The report by the House of Commons London Regional Committee on their only inquiry into London's population and the 2011 census was published on 31 March 2010 (HC 349). This Government did not re-establish the Regional Committees. They recognise the importance of providing a response to Parliament on the issues raised by the Committee. The majority of the recommendations in the report were for the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Two of the Committee's recommendations were for Government and this written ministerial statement provides the Government's response. The other recommendations were for ONS and I have placed today a copy of its response in the Library of the House. This Government have serious concerns about the 2011 census introduced by the previous Parliament. Having given the issue serious consideration, and the costs already incurred, the 2011 census is the only way that unique information can be provided to meet essential UK and EU requirements in the given timeframe at no extra cost than that budgeted. It is important that the 2011 census goes ahead and this Government will continue to promote the importance of the public engaging with the 2011 census. Given the highly mobile nature of the population, the UK Statistics Authority recognises the increasing difficulties and costs in carrying out a census. The authority has therefore instructed ONS to urgently work on developing alternatives, with the intention that the 2011 census is the last of its kind. Recommendation 21 of the Committee's report was dealt with by the previous Government, with my predecessor writing to the Chair of the Committee shortly before the report was published. Recommendation 14 of the report was on the need for the census address register being developed by the ONS for the 2011 census to be maintained after the census. The previous Government failed to deliver a definitive address register, despite the demands for such a register and the associated costs of inefficiency in maintaining a number of similar registers. This Government are working with the parties concerned and will look to deliver a definitive register. Considerable progress has already been achieved. The work ONS has done will form part of the solution. **************************** International perspective and EU Regulations 1.22 The need for information is shared by the European Union (EU). The European Commission needs to be in possession of sufficiently reliable and comparable data on population and housing in order to fulfil the tasks assigned to it, notably by Articles 2 and 3 of the Treaty establishing the European Community10. To this end a Council and European Parliament Regulation11 requiring Member States to provide the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat) with censusderived statistical information, or equivalent data, relating to the reference year 2011 came into force in July 2008. Aggregated statistics, agreed by the National Statistical Institutes of Member States, and to be prescribed by a subsequent Commission Regulation, will be supplied to Eurostat for use by the European Commission in support of the European Parliament. Arrangements will be put in place to ensure that statistical disclosure controls are in place to protect the confidentiality of any statistical data to be made accessible to Eurostat under this obligation (see also Chapter 6). The United Kingdom is playing a full part in discussions to ensure harmonization of the statistics produced by the different EU Member States. The concepts and definitions to be adopted by the EU will adhere to the Conference of European Statisticians’ Recommendations for the 2010 Censuses of Population and Housing12, prepared by a joint Eurostat and UN Economic Commission for Europe Working Group, to which the UK made a significant contribution. Data access and data sharing 6.12 The Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA) gives discretionary powers to the UK Statistics Authority (Statistics Board) to allow wider access to census information provided that any such disclosure: is permitted under other legislation is required to fulfil a European Community obligation is necessary for the purposes of enabling or assisting the Board to exercise any of its functions is to persons providing services to the Board, if the Board considers it necessary or appropriate to do so for the purposes of the provision of those services has already lawfully been made available to the public is made in pursuance or an order of any court or for the purposes of a criminal investigation or proceedings is made in the interest of national security is made with the consent of the person to whom it relates, or is made to an approved researcher Example Answer Non-derived topics — Place of usual residence, Still in same place. — sex, Yes. — age, As old as my tongue and a little older than my teeth — legal marital status, Not sure — country/place of birth, Same Country that I was born in. — country of citizenship, European Union so I am told. Derived topics — Total population, About 60 million — locality, About twenty mile from France — household status, General Dogs body — family status, Last of the heap — type of family nucleus, Don’t understand the question — size of family nucleus, Doh! — type of private household, Too private to tell youEuropean Union (EU) legislation 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.
CABINET OFFICE 25 Oct 2010 : Column 4WS
London Regional Committee Report (Government Response)
Sunday, 27 February 2011
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