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The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.Letter from Jil Matheson, dated December 2009:"As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent questions regarding the 2011 Census. I have grouped together the responses to those questions where there are common themes.""(i) The Office of the Information Commissioner was consulted on the preparation of the privacy impact assessment for the 2011 Census. (302264)""(ii) The numbers of Office for National Statistics staff working full time on the 2011 Census are:""(a) media and public relations 9""(b) marketing and publicity 8""(c) communications 6""There is no one in the UK Statistics Authority working full time on the 2011 Census.(302265)""(iii, iv, v) The total budget for communications with the general public (including the marketing and advertising costs) is anticipated to be £16.8 million for the period 2005-2015. This includes all staff and contractor costs. The main contracts are with:""Bray Leino for advertising (including design and media buying) (£10.1 million);""Four Communications (£800,000) and Linstock (£553,000) for other marketing services (including pubic relations and market research);""Elmwood for delivering the branding for the 2011 Census (£139,000);""Big Mouth for online consultancy (£30,000);""together with a number of other smaller contracts. (302269, 302131, 302566)""(vi) (a) In total, adjustments due to errors in the 2001 Census made after publication of the results in September 2002 amounted to 275,000 people—a difference of 0.5 per cent""(b) The non-response rate in the 2001 Census was estimated to be 6.1 per cent of people. Adjustments for this non-response are included in the published results""A report of the assessment of the quality of the 2001 Census in England and Wales in terms of coverage, non-response and response error was published in 2005 and laid before Parliament. A copy is available at:""http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census2001/methodology.asp""(302266)""(vii) The UK Statistics Authority, through its Executive body the Office for National Statistics, plans to undertake both national and local publicity to emphasise the value and importance to the public of the results of the 2011 Census and the legal obligation on the public to provide complete and accurate responses. This publicity will include an active response to any such campaigns. (302267)""(viii, ix) Representations to the Cabinet Office and the UK Statistics Authority from stakeholders on the inclusion of particular questions in the 2011 Census have all been directed to the Office for National Statistics.""The Equalities and Human Rights Commission, and the former bodies that have since been incorporated into it, have made representations to ONS proposing the inclusion of a question relating to sexual identity through:""verbal representations at one of the several Census Advisory Groups set up by ONS to consult regularly with a wide range of stakeholders;""written submissions in response to the programme of consultation on census topics in 2005;""in a letter to ONS in 2008; and""a bilateral meeting with ONS in June 2008""Neither the Cabinet Office nor the UK Statistics Authority (which was only created in 2008) would have received representations on the classification of Sikhs in the 2001 Census, but ONS took account of representations from a number of organisations in considering the inclusion of Sikh and other tick box categories in the religion question. Such organisations included:""Church of England""Inner Cities Religious Council;""Inter-Faith Network for the United Kingdom""Council of Churches for Britain and Ireland""Board of Deputies of British Jews""Network of Buddhist Organisations""Network of Sikh Organisations UK""UK Action Committee on Islamic Affairs""National Council of Hindu Temples, Zoroastrian Trust Funds of Europe""The Free Church Federal Council""Baha'i Community""(302270, 302284)""(x) There are no plans to place such guidance in the Library. ONS considers any such guidance to be covered by legal and professional privilege, and that its publication may have a detrimental effect on ONS's public responsibilities and may adversely affect any potential prosecution undertaken in respect of anyone refusing to make a census return. (302271)""(xi) Representatives of the Office for National Statistics have been fully involved in discussions with Eurostat to agree a core set of information requirements across the EU in terms of the definitions used, question wording, and the content of statistical outputs for the 2011 round of European censuses.""No proposals have been made to harmonise the way in which such information should be collected. (302272)""(xii) The provisional targets for the 2011 Census are that the overall response rates should be at least as high as that for the 2001 Census (94 per cent), and that the response rates in the lowest 5 per cent of local authorities in 2001 should be increased to at least 80 per cent. These will be reviewed in the light of the 2009 Census rehearsal and reported in the business case for the Census to be published in spring 2010.""Value for money has been assessed in terms of the financial impact that, in the absence of a census, errors in population statistics would have on the national decision making process that the census information supports, including resource allocation from central government to local authorities and primary care trusts, and the investment decisions made by commercial companies relating to store location and product ranges.""The financial benefits realised by the Census significantly outweigh its costs. This is detailed in the Census business case, which has been reviewed by HM Treasury and the Office for Government Commerce.""A précis of this analysis was made available to the Lords Committee on the Merits of Statutory Instruments when it considered the Draft Census Order in October, and published in its 29th Report of the 2008-09 Session on 5 November 2009, a copy of which is available at""http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/Id200809/Idselect/Idmerit/Idmerit.htm""(302273)" |