§ Mr. Moyleasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he has any plans to amend section 2(2) of the Census Act 1920 to restrict the scope of directions given to the Registrar General under that provision to matters relating to the efficient enumeration of the population of the United Kingdom and to exclude specifically any more general directions.
§ Mr. Geoffrey FinsbergLegal advice has recently confirmed that section 2(2) of the Census Act 1920 already enables my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State to give the Registrar General only such directions as relate to the taking of a census and other duties specifically prescribed by the Act. Thus the only direction which my right hon. Friend can give to the Registrar General under this section, apart from those relating to the efficient enumeration of the population, are directions concerned with the preparation of reports and statistical abstracts from the census and with the collection, publication, supply and co-ordination of intercensal statistics. It is not, therefore, considered necessary to amend the Act in the way suggested.