Census has real value, declare MPs

The Science and Technology Committee found that the benefits of the census outweigh its financial cost and other surveys were not adequate replacements.

The 2011 census, which cost an estimated £480m, may be the last 10-yearly exercise as Ministers look for effective alternatives.

In 2010, shortly after the coalition Government came into power, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said: “There are, I believe, ways of doing this which will provide better, quicker information, more frequently and cheaper.”

The committee acknowledged many problems with the census, which is always at least two years out of date by the time the data is published.

However Andrew Miller, Labour chairman of the committee, said: “Ministers must think hard before they take the decision to scrap the census. The census has provided the UK with one of the richest collections of population data in the world.

“It is incredibly valuable to social researchers, charities and the public sector and a move to cancel the census on financial grounds may prove to be a costly mistake.”

The committee’s report said: “We have concerns that social science could suffer if the census was to be discontinued without serious consideration as to how this data would be replaced.

“We have been told that surveys and administrative data can be used effectively but we have concerns that this would not easily scale to a nationwide coverage.”