Working with communities and local authorities

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is looking to make best use of the knowledge that exists within local authorities about their own communities. It is clear from the 2001 experience that it will be mutually beneficial for local authorities and ONS to work in partnership when conducting the 2011 Census.

ONS wish to benefit from local authority resources and their knowledge of governed areas to improve the enumeration process, and, in turn, local authorities should benefit from better census results.

A local authority Liaison Steering Group was set up in August 2004 to steer this work, and all five Test local authorities have appointed census Liaison Managers to work with ONS throughout the 2007 Test. Areas for partnership working will include:

  • enumeration procedures

  • targeting of delivery methods and follow-up resources

  • community intelligence

  • publicity

  • recruitment and logistical support

A local authority liaison action plan has been developed with the five Test local authorities to test out how this partnership could work in practice and will be trialled during the 2007 Test. This will be evaluated after the test, resulting in a revised plan for 2011.

In addition to working specifically with local authorities, a Community Liaison project has been initiated, building on the lessons learned from the 2001 project. Through this, ONS worked with key organisations representing a range of minority population groups and communities that are traditionally hard to reach in the census. These included the elderly, the disabled, ethnic minority groups and faith communities. Additionally, as part of the project, a new census Advisory Group, the Special Population Advisory Group was set up in November 2004 (now re-named the Census Diversity Advisory Group) to advise ONS particularly on the community groups' requirements for information from the 2011 Census and to steer the developments of the Community Liaison project.

Essentially the Community Liaison project is all about helping the census make an impact at the grass roots level. The prime aim of the project is to facilitate enumeration and ensure fullest possible coverage of previously under-represented population groups.

Specific objectives of the 2011 project are to:

  • identify how community groups can provide local intelligence into the census project

  • publicise the census and underline its use and value

  • provide help and guidance to local community groups and individual members of the public

  • assist with the development of language and disability strategies, and in particular, the provision of language translation and interpreting materials and facilities

  • help provide a source of potential field staff

Additionally, the project will help provide field staff with intelligence, guidance and support at the local area level. The 2007 Census Test will provide an opportunity to assess how well such partnerships with local authorities and community organisations can operate and to identify other areas in which co-operation may be developed.