Mr. John M. TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if she will publish the text of the(a) non-statutory assurances of confidentiality and 407W (b) 100-year extended closure given by the Registrar General on the householders' forms for the 20th century censuses of population for Northern Ireland. [84491]
§ Mr. Paul MurphyThe assurances on confidentiality listed on household forms for the 20th century censuses of population for Northern Ireland are as follows:
1928 and 1937:
All particulars given in the Return will be regarded as strictly confidential and will be issued only to prepare general census summaries.
1951:
All particulars given in this Return will be regarded as strictly confidential.
1961:
The contents of this Return are strictly confidential.
1971:
The information you give on the form will be treated as "Confidential" and used only for compiling statistics. No information about named individuals will be passed by the Census Office to any other Government Department or any other Authority or person.
1981:
The information which you give on the form will be treated as "Strictly Confidential" and will be used only for compiling statistics. No names and addresses will be fed into the computer and no information about named individuals will be passed by the Census Office to any other Government Department or to any other Authority or person.
1991:
Your answers will be treated in strict confidence and used only to produce statistics. No names and addresses will he put into the computer; only the postcode will be entered. The forms will be kept securely and treated as confidential. No information about named individuals will be passed by the Census Office to any other Government Department or to any other authority or person.
Note:
The Censuses of 1901 and 1911 were taken on an all Ireland basis. The original census records are held in Dublin.
The Census Act (Northern Ireland, 1969 requires that information obtained from Northern Ireland censuses is to be used for census purposes only and that census records are to be kept closed.
Mr. John M. TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, pursuant to section 123 of the White Paper on the 2001 Census, when she plans to bring forward proposals for an end to the permanent closure to public inspection of Northern Ireland census returns. [84499]
§ Mr. Paul MurphyThe Census White Paper (cm 4253) indicated that consideration would be given to availing of a suitable legislative opportunity to introduce to Northern Ireland similar provisions to those in Great Britain on the closure of historic census records. To date, no suitable opportunity has arisen, but the position is kept under continuous review.