I was out of the country on census-day in ?2001?, so of course there was a
census form on the doormat.
Actually I did the 'correct' thing i.e. did NOT return it.
But there was absolutely no follow-up.
JB
-----Original Message-----
From: email list for Radical Statistics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Ted Harding
Sent: 01 November 2007 17:53
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: 2011 Census
On 01-Nov-07 19:11:35, Martin Rathfelder wrote:
> As a census manager in Central Manchester in 2001 the major
> problem was complete lack of preparation for dealing with
> the quite large numbers who are not literate in English.
> This difficulty is clearly not going to be less in 2011,
> and I would need good evidence before I believed that this
> did not also affect other surveys. Given the lack of
> response we found I have little faith in any figures
> relating to migration or deprivation or ethnicity. I am
> not sure that a national identity card system will help
> with this problem. A fair proportion of those who did
> not respond to the census are not citizens of the UK (and
> therefore, presumably not entitled to identity cards),
> some are not here legally and some have good reason for
> fearing authorities - quite apart from those who simply
> did not understand the bumf that came through their door.
To what extent were the problems and non-response manifested as
a) Failure to fully complete the form (not put everybody on)?
b) Failure to return the form?
Clearly (a) could be difficult to track down. Regarding (b),
if I recall aright, it is an offence not to complete and return
the form (just as it is for the Electoral Register form).
So, to the extent that it was (b), what efforts were put into
following up non-returns (presumably there was a central record
of which addresses forms were delivered to)?
Granted that not understanding English could be seen as strong
mitigation for failure to return (and presumably would lead
to non-prosecution once a follow-up was done, the facts verified,
and the situation put right, e.g. with the help of an interpreter),
there may have been a good number of non-returns whch did not
have such mitigating factors.
I don't recall hearing much about people being charged with
failure to return the Census form. Or have I got the wrong end
of the stick?
Best wishes,
Ted.
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E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <[log in to unmask]>
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Date: 01-Nov-07 Time: 18:52:37
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