Future of the UK Census: Government welcomes online survey for 2021

The UK Government has officially responded to the recommendations of the National Statistician for providing future population statistics for England and Wales.

The recommendations, forwarded in March 2014, called for a predominantly online census in 2021 supplemented by further use of administrative and survey data.

In a letter to the UK Statistics Authority dated 18 July 2014, Francis Maude MP wrote: "Government recognises the value of the census and its history as a bedrock of statistical infrastructure."

"The census provides information on the population that is of fundamental importance to society," Maude continues. "At the same time, Government has long said that the census in its current form is outdated and – with modern technology – could be delivered more effectively and more cheaply. Modernising the approach could significantly improve the speed of analysis and outputs. In addition, we are not making the best use of the considerable data that government already collects."

The letter makes it clear that these recommendations only apply to the 2021 census: "Our ambition is that censuses after 2021 will be conducted using other sources of data and providing more timely statistical information."

In addition, the UK Statistics Authority and the Government have both responded to the Public Administration Select Committee's report Too soon to scrap the Census. This letter, dated 21 July 2014, provides responses to specific questions about the source and quality of supplemental data, the ONS consultation process, and the planned programme of work to share governmental data and build capacity and capability in reusing existing administrative data.

On this last point, the newly named Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN) was cited as a resource for future plans: "[It] has been established as a UK-wide partnership between universities, government departments and agencies, funders, and the wider research community to help accredited researchers carry out social and economic research on de-identified administrative data."

ADRN was established by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in 2013 following recommendations from the 2012 Administrative Data Task Force Report; it forms Phase 1 of the ESRC Big Data Network. ADRN also builds on the expertise established by the UK Data Service.

The full contents of both letters can be found at the links below.

Resources

• Government response to the recommendations of the National Statistician (18 July 2014)
• UK Statistics Authority response to Too soon to scrap the Census (21 July 2014)
• Administrative Data Task Force Report (December 2012)
• About the Administrative Data Research Network

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