Legislation
The legislative process necessary to undertake a Census in England and Wales is governed by the 1920 Census Act, as amended by the Census (Amendment) Act 2000 and the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, and makes provision for a census to be taken no more frequently than every five years.
There are three stages to the parliamentary process:
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White Paper
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Census Order
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Census Regulations
White Paper
A parliamentary White Paper (scheduled for November 2008) is the means by which the Government will announce the UK Statistics Authority’s proposals for the next census. It will state what topics are proposed for inclusion in the census questionnaires and why, and will give notification of any major changes in methodology or policy, such as the delivery of questionnaires by post, and the collection of returns via the Internet.
Census Order
A Census Order will subsequently be laid before parliament (planned for November 2009) for approval by February 2010. The Order will prescribe the date of the census, who is to be included, the persons responsible for making a return, and the information to be collected.
Census Regulations
Following approval of the Census Order, the Census Regulations will be made authorising the appointment of field staff and specifying their duties. These regulations will describe the delivery and collection methodology, prescribe the measures to ensure the security of the completed forms and confidentiality of the data in the field, and will include a facsimile copy of the census questionnaire. The regulations must be agreed by Parliament and the National Assembly for Wales by March 2010 in order to enable field staff to be appointed in sufficient time before the census.
Wider UK legislative process
Legislative responsibility for the censuses in Scotland and Northern Ireland are devolved to the respective legislatures.
The responsibility for making Census Regulations with respect to the census in Wales now rests with Welsh ministers having been transferred from the Chancellor of the Exchequer to the National Assembly for Wales in December 2006 by virtue of a Transfer of Functions Order (TFO), made under the provisions of the Government in Wales Act 1998. The TFO also makes provision for Welsh ministers to be consulted on the content of the Census Order. The regulations for Wales will follow the same timetable as those for England.
European Union (EU) legislation
The UK is an active participant in ongoing initiatives involved in advising the European Commission and developing EU legislation which will define the protocols involved with the timing, scope and harmonization of 2011 census-type outputs to be supplied to Eurostat by member states. More details about the regulations, their implementation, and the EU Task Force contributing to their development can be found in the link above.
