On Sunday 8 October 2017 the Sunday Times published a story about the 2021 Census which inaccurately reported: "The UK is to become one of the first countries in the world not to require its citizens to let officialdom know what sex they are." The document referred to in Andrew Gilligan’s story is an update on research Office for National Statistics (ONS) has been undertaking on potentially collecting information on gender identity as well as data on sex. It does not contain proposed census questions and suggests further research is required. ONS has yet to formulate its recommendations for the 2021 Census. Once it has done so the government will bring forward a White Paper which will include the census questions.
Statement on Sunday Times story about the 2021 Census
Released on 10 October 2017