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Census

Answer

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.Letter from Jil Matheson:"As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent questions asking""i) which Cabinet Office Minister approved the wording and proposed questions in the draft Order for the 2011 Census; (299249)""ii) whether a privacy impact assessment has been prepared in relation to the proposed questions to be asked in the 2011 Census; (299406)""iii) when the privacy impact assessment for the 2011 Census will be published; (299462)""iv) what the most recent estimated total cost of the 2011 Census to the public purse is; and in which years the expenditure will be incurred; (299448)""v) whether the results of the 2011 Census rehearsal that took place in October 2009 will be published; (299479)""vi) what maximum fine may be imposed on a householder for not answering, in whole or in part, the 2011 Census. (299482)""i) The proposed questions in the Draft Census Order (England and Wales) 2009 have been created independently from Ministers by the Office for National Statistics following extensive consultation. The wording of the Draft Census Order was subsequently approved by Angela E. Smith, Minister of State for the Cabinet Office, and by Welsh Ministers in the Welsh Assembly, prior to the Order being laid in Parliament. The Domestic Affairs Committee was informed.""ii and iii) Privacy considerations have been integral in determining the recommended questions. A privacy impact assessment has been prepared and is due to be published on 20 November on the census website.""iv) the most recent estimated total cost of the 2011 Census in England and Wales is £482 million. This covers the period 2005-2016. The following table gives a breakdown by year."

	£ million
2004-05	1.9
2005-06	3.7
2006-07	6.5
2007-08	10.4
2008-09	45.4
2009-10	44.7
2010-11	158.6
2011-12	179.3
2012-13	16.7
2013-14	8.2
2014-15	4.8
2015-16	1.7
Total	482.0

"Provision of £450 million has been made up to the period 2011-2012. Provision for later years will be subject to future spending reviews and will cover the final stages of data and output processing, dissemination and a number of subsequent output services and releases.""The cost and financial control of the 2011 Census was outlined in the White Paper "Helping to shape tomorrow" which was published in December 2008""http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/2011-census-project/legislation/index.html""v) The main aims of the rehearsal which is being undertaken in areas within Lancaster, Isle of Anglesey and Newham were to:""prove the field procedures""prove the effective management of the rehearsal operation""prove the key field supporting systems""prove the recruitment, training and payment of field staff""prove that an address register of sufficient quality can be delivered""prove local authority and community liaison""rehearse the integration of systems and subsequent data processing""test the census communications campaign.""There are no plans to release statistical output from the rehearsal but an evaluation report will be published in spring 2010.""vi) The penalty for non-completion of a census return is specified in Section 8 (1) of the Census Act 1920 which states "a ""fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale". The standard scale is that set out in the Criminal Justice Act and is currently a maximum of £1,000. The imposition and amount of the fine is at the discretion of the Magistrate within the limits of the standard scale under the Criminal Justice Act."

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

499 c738-40W; 299482

Session

2008-09

Subjects

Census

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk