Documents relating to the mandatory sex question in the 2021 Census

You asked

I request information concerning decisions that led to the addition of a voluntary 'Gender' question to 2021 Census in England and Wales, as referenced in Para. 3.40 of white paper Help Shape Our Future: The 2021 Census of Population and Housing in England and Wales. ​Specifically, I require documentation that is pertinent to the signing off on draft proposals subsequently put forward by the Cabinet Office in a white paper to not provide a third, neutral response option for a mandatory question [Sex].

We said

Thank you for your request.

We have conducted a search of all information we hold. Details for everything located in scope can be found in the table below and the associated downloads.

You have also asked for the date that the decision was made that the mandatory question on sex should remain unchanged in the 2021 Census. The White Paper recommendation for the mandatory question on sex to remain unchanged was signed off by the Chair of the UKSA Board with all other recommendations on 31 October 2018. The final decision on the sex question will be made with the approval of the  Census (England and Wales) Order 2020, which was laid on 2 March 2020 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2020/9780111193617/contents).

We set out our recommendations for the 2021 Census in the White Paper 'Help Shape Your Future' (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-2021-census-of-population-and-housing-in-england-and-wales) in December 2018. To ensure a full evidence base on which to make these recommendations, we engaged with and considered evidence from many of those who have an interest in each topic including: Stonewall, the Gender Identity Research and Education Society, Government Equalities Office, a number of local authorities, and many others. We used published criteria to evaluate potential question topics and question design and engaged with a wide range of people and organisations to ensure our information base is robust when putting forward our proposals.

The current, well-tested, "male" or "female" sex question had the lowest non-response rate (0.4 per cent) of all questions on the Census in 2011. It is important that the definitions of key questions are retained in order to maintain comparability over time. A major concern was not to reduce the value of the information already collected through the "male" or "female" sex question, which is an essential variable that feeds into population projections. These projections underpin decision-making, planning and resource allocation across central and local government. A core demographic variable, of fundamental importance for a range of census users providing vital information for national and local decision making, sex (male, female) is also one of the 9 protected characteristics in the 2010 Equality Act and the data are used extensively to monitor and measure inequalities.

Some previously published documentation has also been listed to demonstrate the timeline of events. Our work was often done on the Sex topic and Gender Identity topics together, so some documents are labelled GI but they do discuss the sex question/topic.

You will note that some of the documentation relates to the UK Census Committee.  The UK Census Committee (UKCC) is not a decision-making body for the census. Rather it is a group that considers harmonisation topics for the census across the UK. The inclusion of UKCC related documentation (in the table below) is to be as transparent as possible about when discussions were taking place (and not, in this case, about when decisions were made) *.    

Some information has been redacted from the documents because it falls outside of the scope of the request.

Some information has also been redacted as references were made to legal advice and are therefore subject the Legal Professional Privilege (s.42(1)). The use of this exemption is subject to a public interest test. Whilst we acknowledge that there are transparency arguments in favour of disclosure, we feel this is outweighed by the need to safeguard the free and frank discussions between ONS and their legal advisors.

Pre Dec 2018	No recorded discussions between Cabinet Office and the ONS board.
March to April 2017	Qualitative research on gender identity: Phase 1Cognitive testing by the ONS Data Collection Methodology team. Overview of findings published in September 2017 (below).
June 2017	Gender identity update event As part of our ongoing stakeholder engagement, a Gender identity update event was held in June 2017. This provided our stakeholders with an update to our work so far.	https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/classificationsandstandards/measuringequality/genderidentity/genderidentityupdateevent29june2017summary
27 June 2017	Committee (UKCC) Paper: UK recommended direction of travel in relation to inclusion, or not, of the topic of gender identity in the 2021 Censuses in the UK. * Note: this is not a decision-making forum	See Document 2
June 2017	Legal advice The ONS sought and received legal advice on adding a third tick box to the sex category on the Census.
5 September 2017	UK Census Committee (UKCC) meeting Agenda item: Harmonisation on the position of sexual orientation and gender identity. Presentation given, covering gender identity and the legal advice on gender identity. * Note: this is not a decision-making forum	See Document 4
September 2017		Qualitative research on gender identity: phase 1 summary report
8 October 2017	ONS statement Blog - Statement from the Office for National Statistics on Sunday Times story about the 2021 Census.	https://blog.ons.gov.uk/statement-from-the-office-for-national-statistics-on-sunday-times-story-about-the-2021-census/
10 October 2017	ONS statement Statement from the Office for National Statistics on Sunday Times story about the 2021 Census.	https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/statementsandletters/statementonsundaytimesstoryaboutthe2021census
19 October 2017	Update on 2021 Census for England and Wales Includes an update on the topics of sex and gender identity.	https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/censustransformationprogramme/consultations/the2021censusinitialviewoncontentforenglandandwales/updateon2021censusforenglandandwales
13 December 2017	2021 Census topic research report Published update of our gender identity research as part of the 2021 Census topic research report	https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/censustransformationprogramme/questiondevelopment/2021censustopicresearchdecember2017
14 December 2017	Reflecting views on the 2021 Census A further update from Iain Bell on development work for the 2021 census after the ONS Population and Public Policy (PPP) Forum on 14 December 2017. On gender identity – where we are considering how to ask this as well as sex – we heard the needs of the community for the basic information of how people identify themselves and the size of the communities. We also heard the challenges of how such a question could be developed and the difference in public acceptability of asking this for the population aged 16 and over and those aged 15 and under. Our work and engagement shows we need to continue engagement and research in this area.	https://blog.ons.gov.uk/2017/12/14/reflecting-views-on-the-2021-census/
6 June 2018	UK Statistics Authority Board Paper on the 2021 Census presented	See Document 5
6 June 2018	UK Statistics Authority Board Minutes	UK Statistics Authority Board minutes 6 June 2018
28 June 2018	UK Statistics Authority Board Minutes – Key info summary: The Board agreed that final sign-offs would be provided by the Chair on their behalf.	UK Statistics Authority Board minutes 28 June 2018
1 November 2018	UK Statistics Authority Board Minutes – Key info summary: Mr Bell provided the Board with an update on the 2021 Census for England and Wales. When the Board had considered a draft White Paper in June, members agreed that the research conducted by ONS had been done appropriately and effectively, and that the research supported the recommendations on Census content within the draft White Paper. The Board had agreed the draft White Paper, subject to changes reflecting Board comments and discussion. The Board had also agreed that final sign-offs would be provided by the Chair on its behalf. On 31 October, Sir David had approved a final White Paper, which reflected the Board's earlier discussions.	https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/publication/uk-statistics-authority-board-minutes-1-november-2018/
14 December 2018	The 2021 Census of Population and Housing in England and Wales The white paper, 'Help Shape Our Future', sets out the UK Statistics Authority's proposals for conducting the 2021 Census in England and Wales.	https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-2021-census-of-population-and-housing-in-england-and-wales