Written question asked by Jeremy Corbyn (Labour) on Monday, 10 July 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 12 July 2006. It was answered by John Healey (Labour) on Friday, 14 July 2006 on behalf of the Treasury.

Somalia

Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what plans he has to include a self-identification question for Somali people in the next census.

Answer: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the national statistician who has been asked to reply.Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 14 July 2006:"As National Statistician and Registrar General for England and Wales I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question asking what plans there are for the inclusion of a self-identification question for Somali people in the next census. (84948)""We are currently undertaking a programme of consultation and testing on ethnicity and national identity. It will not be possible to confirm what questions are to be included in the 2011 Census until the consultation and testing programme is complete and formal approval is given by Parliament in 2010. There are currently no plans to include a tick-box for ‘Somali’ but people who wish to identify themselves as Somali are likely to be able to do so through a ‘write in’ response option. A White Paper setting out the Government’s proposals is scheduled to be published in Autumn 2008.""A report on the findings of the initial consultation exercise was published on 8 March 2006—‘The 2011 Census: Assessment of initial user requirements on content for England and Wales’ and can be found on the National Statistics website at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/consultations/2011Census_response.asp"

Secondary information