The realm of the Census: vital information or just intrusion?

It was designed 200 or so years ago to provide a snapshot of British life, but asks Sarah Freeman has the Census outlived its purpose?

It’s perhaps no surprise that a growing number of us have stopped taking the Census seriously.

When the first one was launched back in 1800 it was part of scholarly exercise to determine whether Britain’s population was increasing or decreasing. Back then households had to fill out their details on a single sheet of paper. The document for the 2011 Census runs to 32 pages and it includes question on everything from the type of central heating we have to whether we normally take the bus to work.

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Our dislike of answering questions was part of the reason that when the last Census was carried out in 2001 390,000 people described their religion as Jedi Knight. That and the fact that sometimes we just can’t resist jumping on a bandwagon.

Still most of us will sit down next Sunday and dutifully fill out details of how many bedrooms we have and who if anyone is staying over for the night, but it could well be for the last time.

The sheer logistics of sending out the weighty forms and collating the information has been estimated to cost £482m and even its most trusted guardians are beginning to admit that in a world where so much information is already held by so many different agencies there might well be a better way of doing things.

The Government hasn’t yet written the obituary for the Census, but it is looking at other ways of measuring the population and recording household statistics One suggestion is the data could be gathered from existing records held by the Post Office, local government and credit checking agencies.

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“Governments of every era have recognised the need to collect information about their most valuable asset – their people,” says a spokesman for the Office for National Statistics which runs the Census. “Towards the end of the 18th-century it became increasingly obvious that there was little idea about the number of people living in Britain and when it was suggested population growth would soon outstrip food supplies calls grew for an official census to be carried out

“At its core the Census has always counted population and households, but the additional questions reflect the needs, demands and changes in our society. The 1911 Census included questions on marriage and fertility because there was concern at the time about the birth rate which had been in decline for 40 years. In 1951, the first post-war Census was vital in assessing the housing situation in Britain which in some areas had been devastated by bombing raids. Back then households were asked whether they had piped water supplies, cooking stoves, kitchen sinks, water closets and fixed baths.”

Those behind the 2011 Census, which has now dropped on to most doormats in a big white envelope stamped with a purple C, are on the offensive to encourage people to put pen to paper

According to the ONS it should take just 10 minutes per person in the house to complete the necessary questions and it has been quick to stress just how vital those replies can be. “County councils use the statistics to help forecast the number of pupils who will be going to school,” adds the spokesman. “The police use it to help map where their crime prevention efforts should be focused and it even helps supermarkets plan what food to stock.”

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For the first time this year’s Census can be completed online and the ONS has taken to Twitter, Facebook and even online gaming sites to help raise awareness of the need to complete the form.

Not everyone is convinced and despite being legally obliged to do so, three million failed to complete the form last time around.

“I won’t be filling out the census form,” says Alex Deane of Big Brother Watch. “I understand the need to know how many people there are in the country in order to provide services, but my local authority knows I’m here.

“At 32-pages it is wildly excessive. No other free country requires this degree of detail, it’s a real intrusion of the state where it doesn’t belong.

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“While we are threatened with the law, the last time there were fewer than 100 prosecutions. I dare say by putting my head above the parapet I’m putting myself in a different category, but at worst it will end in some drab magistrates’ court some months down the line.

“Not filling in the Census might not be the grandest of gestures, but to me it represents all that’s wrong with modern Britain and I don’t want to go along with it.”