1991 Census (Hansard, 13 November 1989)

§ Mr. Kirkwood
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will ensure that the 1991 census clearly identifies the number of homeless and those sleeping rough through choice.

§ Mr. Freeman
It is planned to identify separately numbers of people camping and people sleeping rough on census night, and to distinguish between the two groups. Like everyone else, people in each of these groups will be asked if the place where they are enumerated is their usual address.

§ Mr. Kirkwood
To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make provision in the 1991 census for an organised body rather than the police and voluntary organisations to count the numbers of homeless sleeping rough.

§ Mr. Freeman
It is planned that the enumeration of people sleeping rough will be carried out as part of the general census enumeration by people appointed for the purpose by the registrars general.

§ Mr. Kirkwood
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to use a simplified form for the 1991 census for those who are homeless.

§ Mr. Freeman
In addition to questions about household circumstances, asked only about private households, it is planned that everyone in Great Britain will be asked to answer the same set of questions about himself or herself. There will, however, be special provisions for particular cases. One of these provisions will enable a return for a person sleeping rough who is not capable of completing his or her own return to be made by someone who is capable. Another provision will enable any person sleeping rough to authorise someone else to complete the return on his or her behalf.

§ Mr. Kirkwood
To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has any plans in the 1991 census to identify the number of those living at addresses care of people other than their own family.

§ Mr. Freeman
It is planned that numbers of people staying in communal establishments will be identified separately, as will numbers of people staying with private households who are not related to the person first mentioned on the census form for that household.

Mr. Robert G. Hughes
To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the draft 1991 Census Order will be laid before Parliament; whether an ethnic group question will be included in the proposed context of the census; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Freeman
My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and I have today laid before Parliament the draft Order in Council for a census to be taken in Great Britain on Sunday 21 April 1991. This order specifies the persons by whom and with respect to whom returns are to be made and the topics on which questions are to be asked.
The Government's proposals for the 1991 census of Great Britain were published in a White Paper (Cm. 430) in July 1988. All the topics that were then proposed are included in the draft order.
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The White Paper stated that the Government proposed to include a question on ethnic group in the 1989 census test and to study the results before deciding whether such a question should be included in the final plans for the 1991 census. The responses to the ethnic group question in this voluntary test have now been assessed.
A follow-up survey, carried out as part of the test, showed that the question commanded a high degree of acceptance from all the main ethnic groups. Less than one half of 1 per cent. of households refused to take part in the voluntary test because of the ethnic group question. While 7 per cent. did voice objections when prompted, most of these had nevertheless answered the question. The proportion of black people who voiced objections when prompted (1 in 5) was higher than that of white and of Asian people (1 in 20) but only 1 per cent. of black respondents refused to take part in the test because of the ethnic group question. Few spontaneous comments adverse to the question were received from the public. The accuracy of answers to the question was acceptable.
These results indicate that the public at large, in all ethnic groups, is ready to accept and respond to this question in the census. The Government have therefore included the ethnic group question in the draft order for the 1991 census.
We hope that this decision will be welcomed by the many people and organisations who have expressed a need for the kind of statistical information the answers to this question and others will provide. Statistical information on ethnic group, together with that on, for example, housing, employment and age structure, will help central and local government and health authorities allocate resources and plan programmes, taking account of the needs of each group. It will also help employers and those providing services identify and tackle areas of racial disadvantage.
Copies of a summary of the ethnic group question results from the census test have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses. Copies of a census newsletter, containing a list of the proposed questions and their uses, and illustrations of how the questions will look on the census form, will be placed in the Libraries shortly.