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The
Government's proposals for the Census of the population in the
United Kingdom, held on 29 April 2001, were published on 4 March
1999 in a White Paper. In
deciding which topics to cover Census Offices consulted on user
needs in conjunction with their Census Advisory
Groups. Northern
Ireland Departments, who represented the views of the
non-departmental public bodies, were also consulted. Besides this,
less formal consultation has taken place through information papers,
a series of consultation roadshows, and correspondence. The Census
Offices have welcomed views and submissions on the census from any
source with or without invitation. The Census Office for Northern
Ireland has taken account of all the comments received since the
publication of the White Paper in deciding what topics to include in
the Census Order. The Census Order balances the cases made for
specific topics by Census users against the public acceptability of
the questions, whether or not they can be asked in a way that gives
reliable information, and alternative methods of collecting
information.
The
Government believes that the topics to be included in the 2001
Census are those that are most needed by the public sector,
businesses and the professions. It also considers it essential that
the Census should be generally acceptable to the public and should
not be an unreasonable burden on them.
Furthermore,
the Government will uphold the well-established tradition of
maintaining the highest levels of census confidentiality. All
aspects of the census data collection operation and the processing
and dissemination of results will comply with Census Confidentiality
and Data Protection law. The information collected in the 2001
Census will be used solely for the production of statistics.
The
2001 Census of Population White Paper can be obtained in PDF format,
free of charge, from this site by clicking here.
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