§ Mr. CurryTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) what he estimates to be the minimum threshold in respect of persons and households compatible with the 657W requirements of confidentiality about individuals which will permit effective data to be made available through the 2001 Census; [28863]
(2) how many parishes in (a) North Yorkshire and (b) England will fall below the minimum threshold of 100 persons/40 households for the purposes of the 2001 Census carried out by the Office for National Statistics. [28862]
§ Ruth KellyThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from John Kidgell to Mr. David Curry, dated 21 January 2002:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent questions asking:
- (i) what he estimates to be the minimum threshold in respect of persons and households compatible with the requirements of confidentiality about individuals which will permit effective data to be made available through the 2001 Census (28863); and
- (ii) how many parishes in (a) North Yorkshire and (b) England will fall below the minimum threshold of 100 persons/40 households for the purposes of the 2001 Census (28862).
I am replying in his absence.
As part of the disclosure control measures being adopted to protect the confidentiality of personal information provided in the 2001 Census, we have recently announced that standard statistical output, other than simple headcounts, will not be released for small areas below a population threshold of 100 resident persons and 40 resident households.The design of output areas recognises the need to identify parishes separately in the 2001 Census, but the number of parishes that fall below this threshold will not be known until the processing of data is completed later this year. Using information from the 1991 Census, we would estimate that some 215 parishes in North Yorkshire and 1230 in England would fall below the 2001 Census threshold.