Dear all,

A few weeks ago i wrote to the list regarding the census and the percieved
lack of information regarding a person's ethinicity, in particular that of
'Welsh' people. I have recieved some very informative and thought provoking
replies, for which i am very thankful. I would like to say that i could send
a detailed analysis of the replies to the list but unfortunately this is my
last day at work and i'm forced to keep this note short. Essentially the
issues raised have highlighted the possible use of information that detailed
a persons ethinicity. This included studies of migration and health studies.
Indeed 'country of birth' has a tick box headed Wales (and not doubt the
other 4 home nations) has been included on the forthcoming census.

On the issue of how the census was designed and planned i have been most
fortunate to recieve an e-mail from Phyllis.Whybrow(@ons.gov.uk) on behalf
of Len Cook, the National Statistician and Registrar General. What the reply
has demonstrated is the open manner in which the census was designed. This
has been clearly demonstrated through consultation with advisory groups and
the research into users requirements for information.

Again i apologise for not providing a complete listing of the responders but
i hope that the ONS response attached will be sufficient.

Diolch yn fawr,

Simon

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Len Cook
                                 National Statistician and Registrar
General

                                 14 August 2000

Dear Mr Williams

Thank you for your recent correspondence concerning the ethnic group
question in the forthcoming census.

Regretfully it is now too late at this stage of the current planning
timetable to make the necessary legislative and logistical arrangements to
amend the wording of the 2001 Census question. I would however, like to
explain what Office for National Statistics (ONS) is doing about the
current situation, how the decision on the form of the ethnic group
question was reached and how ONS is meeting specifically Welsh requirements
in the census in Wales and some thoughts about the way ahead in any future
census.

Since March 1999 the form of the ethnicity question has been open for
public response and debate. This was a 15-month window of opportunity which
closed in July of this year after the Census Regulations had been approved
by Parliament and printing and processing contracts were confirmed. The
form and wording of the question on ethnic group that is proposed for the
2001 Census in England and Wales was published in a Government White Paper
in March 1999. The proposal for this, and all other proposed questions,
reflected a careful consideration of users? requirements for information
expressed over a lengthy period of consultation, and of the response to
census questions as determined by an extensive programme of small- and
large-scale question testing. This culminated in a Census Rehearsal in
April 1999 covering a sample of areas throughout the country including
Ceredigion and Gwynedd. There was then no evidence of any objection to the
form of the ethnic group question either in England or Wales.

Consultation began in 1995 and took various forms, including regular
meetings with a number of formal Census Advisory Groups representing census
users, throughout England and Wales, in central government departments,
local authorities, the health service, academics and private sector
organisations. In addition, the requirements and business cases for
questions were sought from a wide range of other public sector
organisations throughout Wales.


A series of nation-wide public ?roadshow? meetings was subsequently held to
explain the detailed proposals for the census questions and the
requirements of users for statistical output from the 2001 Census based on
the returns. Meetings in Wales were held in Cardiff and Mold in April 1999.

The Statistical Directorate for the National Assembly for Wales (formerly
the Welsh Office) has been involved in all stages of census question
planning and design. Furthermore, regular liaison meetings have been held
with the Welsh Language Board to discuss those census issues of specific
relevance to the Welsh language in Wales.

Thus in Wales the views of a wide range users of census data and the public
were sought in planning the 2001 Census.

With regards the ethnic group question in particular, a specific tick-box
category for ?Welsh? has not been included. The prime purpose of the census
ethnic group question is to identify areas with high levels of ethnic
minority groups, which would help provide valuable baseline information on
which to plan and provide services and monitor racial disadvantage and
social exclusion in Wales as well as in England. However, the provision of
a ?write-in? category within each of the main ethnic groupings provides the
opportunity for persons who choose to describe themselves as Welsh (or, for
that matter, any other description of their ethnicity) to do so. We will
publicise this well in Wales, and recognise other ways in which we can
increase awareness of this.

Consultation with census users is currently being conducted on the
provision of statistical output in Wales based on the responses to these
write-in categories of the ethnic group question. The recognition of
?Welsh? as an ethnic group will be the basis of statistical reports
demanded by users. The recent correspondence has given ONS a stiff reminder
of how important this will be.

The particular ethnicities of the White British population are not asked
for in the UK census. Those of Irish background are added because they are
not otherwise contained in the listed groups, yet are a large community of
significance to UK public policy. Only in Scotland is the Scottish group
specifically recognised in the census. In England and Wales, all who are of
Scottish, Welsh and English ethnicity will either tick the box for
?British?, or write in how they describe their ethnicity. We will not know
in advance if respondents will seek to identify with country, region or
county in answering this question.

To make a considered change to the ethnicity question we would need to test
and assess the effect on the choices that all major ethnic communities
would then have to identify themselves. There is no simple, well-accepted
set of answers that readily describe the ethnicity of the White British
population in the UK. This is why, even if it were practicable to make a
last-minute change to the 2001 Census form, we would do so only with great
reluctance and caution.


Consultation with users in Wales has also helped to shape a number of
additional requirements for the census in Wales, in particular with respect
to the inclusion of a question on the Welsh language and the provision of
both English and Welsh language versions of the Census form throughout
Wales. My aim is to ensure that everyone in Wales has a free choice as to
what language they use to make their census return. Also for the first time
a Census Manager for Wales has been appointed to address Welsh issues and
to manage the census operation in Wales. Making it possible to answer the
census in Welsh was the top concern of those whom we consulted and I
believe that we have responded well to this.

In addition, a question on country of birth including a tick box to
indicate whether a person was born in Wales is, as before, being included
in the 2001 Census, and the question on migration will provide valuable
information on the flows of population both into and out of Wales in the
year preceding the census.

Though the final decisions on the 2001 Census questions may now have been
settled, the ONS welcomes continued participation in the census
consultation process. We have already begun considering how to measure more
comprehensively the diverse ethnicities of the White British population and
including Welsh in future surveys and censuses.

I recognise that the ethnicity question is a very significant question in
the census, and that ONS has a special need to continue to be alert to
shifts in the balance of thinking by ethnic communities in the UK about how
their identity should be recognised.


Yours sincerely



Len Cook



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