Census - things to know

Census day - 27 March 2011!

• The 2011 census will be run on 27 March 2011.
• It will involve more than 25 million households in England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland will both run their censuses on the same day.
• A population census has been carried out in Great Britain every ten years from 1801 to 2001, except in 1941 when the country was at war.
• It captures information for policy making, service planning and funding allocation. It underpins the allocation of local authority and health funding from central government.
• Population statistics are important to inform how government distributes public services funding, to help local authorities plan and target services such as healthcare, education, transport and community support, and to encourage businesses to invest in the area.
• The Office for National Statistics (ONS) designs, manages and runs the census in England and Wales.
• ONS will employ up to 35,000 temporary census field staff in England and Wales, most for about six weeks.
• Most questionnaires will be delivered by post, with 5 per cent delivered by hand. People will be able to complete and submit their questionnaire online or fill it in on paper and return it by post.
• The 32-page, 2011 Census questionnaire contains 56 questions: 14 about the household and its accommodation and up to 42 for each member of the household to complete. These include questions about work, education, national identity, citizenship, ethnic background, second homes, language, health, religion and marital status.
• Personal census data is kept confidential for 100 years and used only to produce census-related publications and analyses for geographic areas. This information is not shared with other government departments or marketing agencies.
• Data handling and storage is subject to the requirements of the Data Protection Act. ONS employees and their appointed census contractors are bound by the 1920 Census Act and the confidentiality provisions of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA).

  
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