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The
duty for carrying out a Census rests with the Registrar General for
Northern Ireland. He is also responsible for authorising all Census
returns and ensuring that the system is fit for the purpose of
taking the Census. All procedural and other changes are conducted in
accordance with well-established procedures for consultation with
users and decisions are authorised by a series of Census Boards
including the United Kingdom Census Committee.
There
are three pieces of legislation that provide the basis for the
conduct of the Census.
The
Census Act
The
Census Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 is the authoritative primary
legislation that determines the topics that can be included in the
Census. Any questions not authorised by the Census Act can only be
introduced by a change in the legislation.
The Act gives powers for taking a census from time to time provided
that, at the commencement of the year in which the census is to be
taken, at least five years have elapsed since the commencement of
the year in which a census was last taken. The Act also gives powers
for the making of an Order in Council directing the census to be
taken on a particular day.
The
Census Order
For
each Census, Parliament is required to approve two pieces of
secondary legislation – the Census Order and the Census
Regulations. The Census
Order specifies the date when the Census will be taken, those who
are required to fill in the forms and the topics/questions to be
asked. For the 2001 Census, the Order came into operation on 23rd
June 2000. Separate Orders have been made for England and Wales and
for Scotland.
The Northern
Ireland Order can be downloaded here
in PDF format.
The
Census Regulations
The
Census Regulations, laid in June 2000, specified the detailed
arrangements for the conduct of the Census in Northern Ireland.
The Regulations included facsimile copies of the census
forms, information on field procedures and arrangements for the
recruitment of field staff.
The
Northern Ireland Regulations can be downloaded here
in PDF format
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