Consultation on ethnic group, national identity, religion and language
A detailed consultation on user needs for ethnicity, national identity, language and religion information from the 2011 Census in England and Wales took place between December 2006 and March 2007. Comments from interested people and organisations were sought in order for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to:
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gain a better understanding of key data requirements
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gain an awareness of the range of views held on these topics, and
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identify the relative priorities for this information given the constraints of space on the Census form
This review of ethnic group, national identity, religion and language considers issues like:
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acceptability of terms
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categories included and excluded
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collecting national identity data separately from ethnic group data
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continuity with 2001 data on ethnic group and religion
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allowing multiple responses in the ethnic group question
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level of information required on languages
The findings from the consultation are published in five reports. The Overall Consultation Summary Report conveys the main messages from the consultation from all the respondents. The supplementary reports summarise the key findings from the different stakeholders consulted.
Electronic copies of the consultation responses of individuals and organisations are available on CD on request.
Next Steps
The responses to this consultation, along with those from other users and stakeholders, will inform further question development. Question testing research with members of the public will take place throughout 2007. ONS will then make recommendations in early 2008 on the questions for the 2009 Rehearsal and 2011 Census. These will then need to be agreed by Parliament in early 2010.
Please contact Census Customer Services if you have any queries or requests for further information.
