§ Mr. Clifton-BrownTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what percentage of forms from the(a) 2001 and (b) 1991 Census were returned. [11678]
§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, dated October 2001:
As National Statistician and Registrar General for England and Wales, I have been asked to reply to your recent question on the percentage of forms returned from (a) the 2001 and (b) the 1991 Census. [11678].The Office for National Statistics presently estimates that the response rate to the 2001 Census in England and Wales will reach 98 per cent. of households. Around 88 per cent. of the estimated number of households returned forms by post, a further seven per cent. were collected by enumerators and possibly three per cent. were vacant dwellings and second homes. We will not know the precise response rates until all the forms have been processed and analysed.In the 1991 Census in England and Wales, nearly 98 per cent. of forms for households identified by enumerators as being occupied, were returned.