A Census, in which everyone is required to take part, is backed by law, and is debated and approved by Parliament.
The Census Act 1920 is the primary legislation which allows a Census to be taken. While an Order and Regulations set out the details for a specific Census after publication of Government policy in a White Paper. Further legislation protects the confidentiality of personal Census information.
The Census Act 1920
The statutory authority for taking a Census in Great Britain (that is in England, Wales and Scotland) is the Census Act of 1920 (148kb pdf file) as amended by the Census (Confidentiality) Act 1991. This makes provision for the taking of a census from time to time (but no more frequently than every five years). The Act gives power to the Government of the day, if Parliament agrees, to ask the Queen to make an Order in Council directing that a census be taken on a particular day. The duty for carrying out a census rests with the Registrar General for England and Wales (whose office is part of the Office for National Statistics) and the Registrar General for Scotland (General Register Office Scotland).
Similar, but separate, legislation (the Census Act (Northern Ireland) 1969) applies in Northern Ireland, where the Registrar General for Northern Ireland (whose office is part of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency) is responsible for carrying out the census.
The White Paper The Government White Paper (The 2001 Census of Population, Cm 4253), (204kb pdf file) announcing the proposed date of the 2001 Census throughout the United Kingdom and setting out the plans for the Census, was presented to Parliament jointly by the Economic Secretary to the Treasury and the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland in March 1999. It was published two years before the Census to allow time for public discussion of proposals that would affect every person in the country.
The White Paper drew on the extensive consultation process for data needs and set out the Government's proposals for the questions to be covered, together with background on the need for information. New questions on religion, general health, and carers, and a revised question on ethnic group, were included in the proposals. The inclusion of the question on religion was subject to an amendment to the Census Act 1920.
The Census (Amendment) Act 2000
A question on religion was proposed in the White Paper in March 1999 subject to a change to the Census Act, which did not then provide the authority for such a question to be included in a census in Great Britain. A Bill providing for such particular to be included in a census gained Royal Assent on 28 July 2000. Similar legislation in Scotland received Royal Assent on 10 April 2000.
The Census Order and Census (Amendment) Order
An Order in Council is made, after Parliamentary approval, prior to each Census, specifying the date when the Census will be taken, the people who are required to fill in the forms, and the people to be included on the forms. It also sets out the topics on which questions will be asked.
The Census Order 2000(44kb pdf file) was made on 15 March 2000. The Census (Amendment) Order 2000 (8kb pdf file) which allowed for particulars on religion to be stated in the 2001 Census, was made on 13 December 2000.
Separate Orders were required for England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
Census Regulations and Census (Amendment) Regulations
Regulations are also approved by Parliament for each census, specifying the detailed arrangements for the conduct of the census, separately in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. They include facsimile copies of the Census forms to be completed by the public.
The Census Regulations 2000 (799kb pdf file) were laid before Parliament on 6 June 2000. The Census (Amendment) Regulations 2000, (5.19kb pdf file) containing facsimile copies of the amended Census forms for England and Wales, were laid before Parliament on 21 December 2000. They came into force on 11 January 2001.
Security and Confidentiality
Participation in a census in the UK is a statutory requirement, and the confidentiality of the information supplied by the public is protected by legislation. In Great Britain, the Census Act 1920 as amended by the Census (Confidentiality) Act 1991, and provisions set out in the Census Regulations, lay down penalties for the unlawful disclosure of information from the Census by anyone involved in taking a census. Separate legislation, the Census (Confidentiality) (Northern Ireland) Order 1991 applies in Northern Ireland.
The confidentiality of personal individual census information is taken very seriously indeed. It is unlawful, for example, for the Census Offices to pass any census information to other Government departments or to any other organisation except for the purposes of the Census Act itself or the Public Records Act 1958. Under the latter legislation, the Lord Chancellor has made an Instrument closing census returns to public inspection for 100 years.
The security and confidentiality of the 2001 Census was a subject of a special review and report, and the three UK Census Offices re-affirmed their commitment in a joint statement accompanying the report of the outcomes of the two independent reviews of physical security of Census data and the measures in place to prevent disclosure of personnal information through the statiscal results. The report on the Reviews of Security and Confidentiality was published on 23 March 2001 and is available to download from HERE (284kb file size) in portable document format (pdf). Copies and further information may be obtained from Census Customer Services.
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