Planning for the 2011 Census is under way. Plans for the run-up to the census include:
a test of innovative technology, systems and principles in 2007, and
a rehearsal of the complete census system in 2009.
The 2011 Census Programme has researched the need for conducting a census, and concluded that there is a unique value in, and continuing need for, the type of information collected by a census, and that the census is the best way of collecting this information in 2011.
The way in which the census is run inevitably changes in the years between censuses. Social and technological factors affect what we need to do and how we propose to do it. Initial proposals are outlined in Information paper 1.
Information Paper 2 includes the strategic aims for the next Census, areas of research, and key questions to be answered before the Census test in 2007.