Further information: The 2021 Census – Ethnic group stakeholder follow-up survey

1. Introduction

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for the census in England and Wales. For the 2021 Census we want to build on the success of the 2011 Census. We aim to maintain or improve the quality of the data for those topics collected, provide comparability where customers tell us it is important and deliver information that is relevant to the needs of users in 2021. We want you to use census data because we believe that better data helps you make better decisions.

The census is just one part of a much wider statistical system. Collecting information through a census represents a significant investment and imposes a burden on all families in England and Wales. The census is appropriate only when it is the most effective way to collect information to meet a strong user requirement, and the associated benefit outweighs the cost of collection.

Following our consultation "2021 Census: Initial view on content for England and Wales", which ran during the summer of 2015, we evaluated and published an assessment of the responses in "2021 Census: Assessment of initial user requirements on content for England and Wales – Response to consultation". Responses relating to ethnicity and national identity were published in the "2021 Census: Assessment of initial user requirement for England and Wales – Ethnicity and National Identity topic report".

The “Ethnic group stakeholder follow-up survey” is a next step in developing the 2021 Census. It gives you the opportunity to provide more information to help us maintain or improve the relevance of the ethnic group data outputs, which will inform how we collect information about ethnic groups in 2021.

This information note provides further information about the “Ethnic group stakeholder follow-up survey”. For transparency, the criteria against which cases for ethnic group design and outputs will be assessed are presented in: Evaluation criteria: The 2021 Census - Ethnic group stakeholder follow-up survey. This will give respondents a clear view of the constraints and trade-offs related to an ethnic group question. Responses will also be moderated and details of this moderation policy can be found in: Moderation policy: The 2021 Census – Ethnic group stakeholder follow-up survey.

Responses to the “Ethnic group stakeholder follow-up survey” will be published on our website.

Responding to the survey

The best way to respond to this follow-up survey is online. If you wish to respond via email or post please contact Census Customer Services, via census.customerservices@ons.gov.uk (and use the subject line "Ethnic group follow-up survey"), or via telephone on +44 (0)1329 444 972.

There are some essential questions that you will need to complete if your response is to be included in our analysis.

If you are requesting a change to the proposed content your case will be stronger if you:

provide evidence or examples to support your need
take into account the considerations that form part of the evaluation process (see Section 4 or "Evaluation criteria: The 2021 Census - Ethnic group stakeholder follow-up survey" for more details)

Responses to the “Ethnic group stakeholder follow-up survey” are invited until midnight 30 November 2016.

For transparency in our decision-making process, responses to this survey will be made public. This will include the name of the responding organisation or individual, but you will be asked to confirm that you are content for your name to be published. We will not publish personal contact details. Please be aware that any information provided in response to this survey could be made publicly available if requested under a Freedom of Information request.

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2. 2021 Census design context

In March 2014, the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority made a joint recommendation on the census and the future provision of population statistics in England and Wales. This recommended:

an online census of all households and communal establishments in England and Wales in 2021 as a modern successor to the traditional, paper-based decennial census, but recognising that special care would need to be taken to support those who are unable to complete the census online, and
increased use of administrative data and surveys in order to enhance the statistics from the 2021 Census and improve annual statistics between censuses.

The government responded to the consultation in July 2014, welcoming the recommendation for a predominantly online census in 2021 supplemented by further use of administrative and survey data. The government stated that:

"Modernising the approach could significantly improve the speed of analysis and outputs. In addition, we are not making the best use of the considerable data that government already collects.
...our support for the dual running of an online (decennial) census with increased use of administrative data is only relevant to 2021 and not for future censuses…
our ambition is that censuses after 2021 will be conducted using other sources of data and providing more timely statistical information."

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3. Collecting ethnicity in the census

Ethnic group has been collected in the census since 1991 and has become one of the most widely used variables. These data are used for resource allocation by central and local government, to inform policy development and to help organisations meet and monitor their statutory obligations, which stem from the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equality Duty.

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4. Evaluation criteria

The “Ethnic group stakeholder follow-up survey” will provide evidence to evaluate the strength of user need, comparability of data over time and public acceptability. The criteria relating to user requirements are the main criteria for evaluation.

Further details of the evaluation criteria that will be used to decide on the ethnic group question design and outputs can be found in: "Evaluation criteria: The 2021 Census - Ethnic group stakeholder follow-up survey".

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5. Conclusion

Your response to the “Ethnic group stakeholder follow-up survey” will support our ongoing programme of research and contribute to decisions on the scope and content of the ethnic group question for the 2021 Census. We value your input and thank you for taking part.

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6. Contact us

Telephone: +44 (0)1329 444 972

Email: census.customerservices@ons.gov.uk (please add "Ethnic group follow-up survey" in the subject line of your email)

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7. Annex A: Glossary

Term		Description
Administrative data		Administrative data refers to information collected primarily for administrative (not research) purposes. This type of data is collected by government departments and other organisations for the purposes of registration, transaction and record keeping, usually during the delivery of a service.
Beyond 2011 public consultation		The Beyond 2011 public consultation ran for 12 weeks from 23 September to 13 December 2013. The consultation covered 2 potential approaches for taking the census in the future: a census once a decade but primarily online, or a census using existing government data and compulsory annual surveys.
Communal establishment		Communal establishments are managed residential establishments. These include prisons, hotels, nursing homes, military barracks, halls of residence and children’s homes.
Ethnic group		Ethnic group classifies people according to their own perceived ethnic group and cultural background.
Household		For the 2011 Census a household was defined as:
		• one person living alone, or
		• a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and share a living room or sitting room or dining area
		This includes:
		• sheltered accommodation units in an establishment where 50% or more have their own kitchens (irrespective of whether there are other communal facilities)
		• all people living in caravans on any type of site that is their usual residence; this will include anyone who has no other usual residence elsewhere in the UK
		A household must contain at least one person whose place of usual residence is at the address. A group of short-term residents living together is not classified as a household, and neither is a group of people at an address where only visitors are staying.
National identity		National identity is a measure of self-identity, reflecting the subjective nature of national identity. A question on national identity allows a person to express a preference as to which country or countries, nation or nations they feel most affiliated to.

Respondent burden		The inclusion of questions should not impose an excessive burden on respondents. Burden could, for example, result from lengthy instruction or explanation, large numbers of response categories, or large numbers of questions on a single topic.
Survey data		A survey is an investigation about the characteristics of a given population by means of collecting data from a sample of that population and estimating their characteristics through the systematic use of statistical methodology.

UK Statistics Authority		The UK Statistics Authority is an independent body operating at arm's length from government as a non-ministerial department, directly accountable to Parliament. It was established on 1 April 2008 by the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. The Authority's statutory objective is to promote and safeguard the production and publication of official statistics that serve the public good. It is also required to promote and safeguard the quality and comprehensiveness of official statistics, and ensure good practice in relation to official statistics. The UK Statistics Authority has 2 main functions:
		1. Oversight of the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – its executive office.
		2. Independent scrutiny (monitoring and assessment) of all official statistics produced in the UK.
Variable		A variable refers to a particular characteristic of a person or household. The variable is assigned one of a set of values which will be either a numerical measure or a category from a classification. For example the age variable records a numerical age value for a person, and the accommodation type variable records a category of "house", "flat or apartment", "mobile structure" and so on for a household.