§ Mr. GrieveTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the ethnic groups enjoying separate monitoring; and if he will estimate the size of each such group. [63612]
§ Beverley Hughes[holding answer 21 June 20021: There is no central record of monitoring of ethnic or religious groups taking place in Great Britain. The key source of population data for monitoring ethnicity is the Census. Census 1991 data is the latest available and Census 2001 data should become available from the Office for National Statistics for the United Kingdom in 2003.
The ethnicity question in the 2001 Census is based on a "self-classification" coding system. Individuals can identify themselves against the existing 16 ethnic Census categories, and if none of these capture the individual's ethnicity, additional space is provided where they can identify their ethnicity. As such, the Census captures the full breadth of ethnic groups.
For each ethnic group, the Census can provide information on demographic profile, household structure and type of accommodation, health, educational achievement and employment.
In relation to the new Race Relations (Amendment) 2000 Act, the Specific Duty requires, among other things, that public bodies carry out ethnic monitoring.