The Government recognises that the investment of time and resources in a national Census is only justified if the results are made accessible to users and meet their needs. This requires a continuing dialogue.
The National Statistics protocol on user consultation
The dialogue with users of the Census is conducted under the guidelines of the National Statistics Protocol on Customer Services and User Consultation (389kb pdf file), one of twelve protocols which describes how the principles and standards of the National Statistics Code of Practice are to be implemented in practice.
Data collection and special communities
There was extensive liaison in the planning of the 2001 Census with special groups in the community so that arrangements could be made to cover their needs in the Census operation, for example to provide for the variety of languages. A Special Populations Advisory Group has since been formed to act as a focus of theses activities.
The Census Advisory Groups
One of the ways ONS consults with Census users is through standing Advisory Groups which represent the interests of the main user communities. These cover central government, local authorities, the health service, the business sector, and the academic sector. There are additional groups to cover Census users in Scotland and Northern Ireland. See details of activities and representatives.
Wider consultation on content and output
The topic content of the 2001 Census and the programme of output was developed through rounds of consultation. Proposals were put to many hundreds of user organisations, and revised on the basis of feedback. Examples of material produced during consultation on output from 1997 to 2001 are
Consultation is taking place on similar lines for a Census in 2011. Activities are announced in Census News, with more information in the 2011 Census section.
There are also other specially convened liaison groups, publicised through Census News, and an example is the 2001 Census UK Output Working Group, made up of representatives from the five Census Advisory Groups, which looked at the geographical, production, and dissemination aspects of output.
Submit your views
Consultation activity includes specific arrangements for users to submit comment, and for the publication of reviews of comments and further discussion as necessary. However, comments on any aspect of the Census are welcome by Census Customer Services at any time from individuals, communities, user groups, and organisations. These will be considered by the specialists concerned, and responses will be made.
Census News
