A schedule for the release of main outputs was first published in March 2002. It outlined the main outputs to be delivered in a specificed period from the release of the Key Statistics for local authorities in December 2002, through completion of Reports to Parliament, and concluding with complete availability of standard area statistics in June/July 2003. Workplace and migration statistics where scheduled to become available somewhat later.

Revisions to schedules - March 2002 - December 2003

It was announced on 31 July 2002 that the Key Statistics for local authorities would be released on 13 February 2003, and the timetable for release of subsequent output, including the release of the Standard Tables and the Census Area Statistics, would be reviewed. Further factors relating to harmonisation of boundaries and to output for overlapping geographies also affected the timings. A new schedule, revised on the basis of current best estimates was issued in November 2002.

The schedule was further revised in March 2003 to enable steps to be taken to maintain the complete confidentiality of individuals while not affecting already published figures. These steps became necessary because the part of the One Number Census process which imputed whole households occasionally used ‘donor’ households more than once - information from actual households counted in the Census was replicated. These cases were clustered in certain defined small areas and posed a potential risk that information about donor households might be disclosed. Further processing was carried out to correct the clustering and mitigate the risk of disclosure. This only affected imputed households, and the numbers of households and persons remain unchanged, as did the overall characteristics of the population, at local authority level and above.

The National report for England and Wales was released on 7 May 2003, and summary results for local areas were released on 30 June 2003, followed by release of detailed results in July and September 2003.

Further changes were made to the schedule at the end of June 2003 to reflect the actual capacity of the output production system as a whole, including the checking of output once it was operating with large volumes of data.

Detailed results for local areas, including Output Area (OA) level - the smallest area for which Census results are released - were published in the form of Census Area Statistics (CAS) in September 2003.

A further announcement on 23 October 2003 detailed the review of a potential risk that information about individual workplaces could be disclosed through Census tables on workplace populations. It also announced that it was taking longer than planned to produce tables about out migrants for technical reasons. This meant that remaining releases of Census results for England and Wales, most of which were expected to contain workplace and out migrant tables, could not go ahead as planned.

The schedule for the remaining Census output was then withdrawn pending the publication of further revisions. A revised schedule was published on 17 December 2003.

The full programme of planned main results from the 2001 Census was finally completed in December 2004, although updates and specialist products continued to be released and added to the catalogue.

A catalogue of all results released is available using the related links above, including a complete list of all products, the media in which they are available and the original publication dates.