The 2011 Census is pointless, out of date and wasteful – and that’s just what the government says about it.
A Census form has just landed on my doormat. Should I fill it in? Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude said last year there were alternatives to the census that could provide “better, quicker information more frequently and cheaper.” The 2011 Census will cost around £500m. Eric Pickles MP reported how councils had been short-changed of government funding from use of out of date information from the 2001 census. Yet it makes sense that the government should know who and what we all are, right?
Please help me answer the following questions about the Census:
1. Is the Census is essential for government and business planning, or effectively useless because it is expensive, inaccurate, and quickly out of date?
2. Is our Census data is trusted and respected worldwide, or do other countries have just as good, and more cost effective ways of at knowing about their citizens?
3. Is Census data still a great source for genealogy, or is wrong to assume that in 100 years time we’ll need census data to know about our ancestors?
4. Is it good for employment to run a census, or are the jobs it creates temporary?
5. Is census data really confidential for 100 years, and is it a concer that the information you provide will be shared with lots of other organisations, including EU member states, public bodies, and approved researchers?
6. Is census information high quality, or is there evidence that many people lie in their return? Some say that the 2001 census ‘missed’ 900,000 men under 40.
7. Should we be proud of playing their part in the census, or proud of the long history of public resentment of and resistance to the census? In the 1800s census officers had to be given police protection; in 1911 the suffragettes boycotted it in protest; and in the 50s TV publicity told people it wasn’t “just another bit of snooping”.
8. Can small and growing communities use census statistics to help gain recognition, or is that a political decision – after all, 390,127 people recorded their religion as Jedi in 2001, and they have yet to be officially recognised. And does the census underestimate British Jews, precisely because some of that community are nervous of officials knowing where they live?
9. Is completing the census easy, quick and safe, or do new questions intrude more than ever (new required data: details of employer’s addresses, details of visitors to your house, and where they usually live)?
10. Is our personal information protected, or with thousands of people involved, and large commercial contractors and government agencies processing data, should we worry about data security?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUbFrKBoJUs
Thinking about shredding the census….
Comment by David Bond — March 17, 2011 @ 12:03 pm
Here’s the group to join if you shred your census.
Now normally we’d not recommend using FACEBOOK of course – but for a campaign, and if you are super careful with your personal details (i.e. make them up or leave them blank):
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ive-shredded-my-UK-2011-census-form/153850524674212
Comment by David Bond — March 17, 2011 @ 12:04 pm
Normally I’m a fairly quiet citizen without much coplaint against collecting data in order to make my life more liveable. So, I may let tfl know where I’ve been so I can collect money back on my oyster if I lose it but …
This census is ridiculous. The data is hugely personal – unnecessarily so – and it’s dangerous, in my opinion, to give such a large amount of data to our own authorities, let alone to a us arms manufacturer.
I’ve shredded my form.
Go do it – it feels good!
Comment by DJ brown — March 17, 2011 @ 2:21 pm
1) Expensive? 80p per person yer year. Personally I’m happy to pay that much to have them know there needs to be a hospital bed for me, and a school place for my child.
Inaccurate? Only to the extent that individuals choose not to complete it correctly (“garbage in, garbage out”); if people choose to break the law in order to deceive the ONS, then they just make the process more intrusive & expensive.
“Quickly out of date”? Not entirely true, and not entirely relevant. The chances of every single person on (for example) Glasgow moving out of the city, is slim. If there are 4 million children under the age of 5 in the country today, the chances are there will be 4 million children in primary school in 2015.
2) I have no idea. On the other hand, I find it difficult to see how there could be a better way of knowing about your citizens than by asking them — without getting into serious forced/covert invasions of privacy.
3) Ask me in 100 years. In truth I don’t much care.
4) Both.
5) Confidentiality: is there any reason to assume it won’t be? The fact is there is (as you well know!) LOTS of very detailed information already publicly available aobut all of us; if “the government” wanted to pry, they wouldn’t need to use the census to do it. It’s against the law for anyone (or any organisation) to use the census data for anything other than the purpose it’s officially being collected for. It’s just as illegal to break into my house and steal my bank statements, my mobile phone, and all the file from my hard disc. If “they” want me, why should I assume they WILL break one law, but WON’T break another?
Information-sharing: this is a major misunderstanding. The fact is that the individual data we each submit is aggregated to create useful statistical data, before it’s shared. Anyone who’s ever done any data processing or analysis work will tell you, until you can pile up a nice reliable pot of data to pull totals & trends out of, the info’s largely pointless; conclusions become more sound and results more reliable the further you get from individual records. None of these organisations & departments who are (legitimately) allowed access to the combined census data actually want to be bogged down with your individual answers: they’re useless to them. If they do want to know about you individually, they’ll just call any one of dozens of list brokers in the country and rent your data. If you vote, your name and address is for sale right now, on the electoral register. The point of the census is to provide something different, so that there can be meaningful statistical analysis of the country as a whole. None of these organisations will ever see your name, from the census data; they don’t want to, and don’t need to.
6) If the adult population of the UK chooses en masse to commit the criminal offence of deceiving the census, then yes, the decisions that are made based on the data will be flawed, and thus will not necessarily meet the needs of the UK population. Perhaps we ought to commit tens of billions in public spending to establishing some form of “secret police” to spy on us, invade our privacy, and record all they choose to record about our lives and activities. On the other hand, if those same citizens simply filled in the form, there’s be no need.
7) Neither.
9) Easy: if a contestant for Mastermind ever chose their own everyday life to be their specialist subject, there’s be an uproar at how ridiculously easy that was. Employer’s address? Again, do we really think it’s difficult for someone to find out where you work, if they want? Personally I can see a lot of potential benefit (in terms of infrastructure planning, for example) to understanding how many people are travelling how many miles in which directions to work every day. If 250,000 Scousers are working in Manchester, and 250,000 Mancs are working in Liverpool, that has an impact on the first 25 miles of the M62 that simple population & employment figures won’t show. And visitors? That’s primarily about avoiding counting people twice, or not at all, when you get forms back from where they were that night, and where they live.
10) It’s not thousands, it’s tens of thousands; but here’s the thing: the vast majority of those people will only ever handle a very small amount of data; and each individual form (eg mine) will only ever be handled by a very few people. No, if you’re worried about an individual employee compromising your security, then next time you give your credit card details to buy something over the phone, remember that the person you’re speaking to is in an anonymous environment and is earning barely NMW; the waiter who takes your card away when you pay for your meal only needs seconds to take a snap of the numbers front & back with their mobile. Conversely the woman who has to come and knock on your door to get your census form back has (a) had to sign a seriously heavy-duty confidentiality agreement, and won’t know anything from your form that you don’t tell her, because she’s not allowed to take it from you til you’ve sealed the envelope; she even has to keep the blanks under lock & key (literally) for fear of losing her job.
So, in short:
* the census is as accurate as WE make it;
* none of the individual data in the census will ever (legally) be used by anyone, until it’s been totalled up with everyone else’s — until 100 years after the event;
* if shady government department wants our data, all our friends have already given them all they need anyway — as have we, if we vote, pay tax, have a bank account or a car or a mortgage or ever travel outside the country.
Comment by David — April 2, 2011 @ 8:01 pm
As much as I am a fan of George Orwell and believe we have many elements of 1984 in our lives… the census is not 100% one of them.
I think the information could be useful in planning schools, infrastructure etc and public needs.
What does bother me is why they need your name and full address…?…
They could get the same sueful data just by having your gender, age and suburb/town not your full name.
The town name should be enough for an address.
Comment by Alice — August 4, 2011 @ 1:53 am
There are benefits to the census such as population prediction and the subsequent planning required, HOWEVER! In Australia the census requires full name date of birth address etc. These details play no part in helping predict population and the planning thereof so why do they need them?
To add insult to injury we Australians are instructed to leave our census on the front door mat where they will be collected between 1 and 14 days. Collected by whom? Identity theives this is your opportunity! Scoop up whole streets of personal details while you walk your dog! At least our illustrious government can use the $160.00 fine incurred by people unwilling to leave the census on the door step towards the administration of posting the fine which was only possible because ( trumpet blare ) . . . they had my name and address:)
Comment by Georgie — December 19, 2011 @ 2:10 am
The public often indicate and call for the government to adopt methods and legislation designed to improve the well being and success for the individuals and the country that can only be described as common sense procedures. These pleadings by a majority of the population are invariably ignored by the government as they implement crazy crap legislation and regulation in a direct and determined attack upon democracy in their efforts to pander to a small minority of clamouring misfits with their own agenda, usually religion crazed nuts whose only actions and concerns are contingent on dying first preferably as martyr. A Census is not required if the government is seeking a feedback from its citizens and act in the interests of the majority and interests of the country. In conclusion, the Census is but a useful tool of the government in the process of gaining unrestrained control over the its citizens freedom of not only actions but also thoughts.
Comment by Harry Grime — March 14, 2012 @ 10:50 pm