Call to re-think census

A think-tank has called for the national census to be scrapped and for local authorities to be given a new role in collecting statistics.

The next census is due to be held in 2011. The results play a key role in areas like housing provision and projections and are widely relied on by planners.

However, a new report from the New Local Government Network (NLGN) has argued that the survey, carried out every decade is outdated and a waste of money because it produces an inaccurate picture of the UK.

The think-tank has highlighted poor quality information on households, high rates of population mobility and a growing reluctance to fill in official forms as the main reasons that the accuracy of the census is undermined.

The report highlighted the fact that the 2001 census undercounted the population by 900,000, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, and that many local authority areas saw their population calculated at ten per cent less than their actual numbers.

The NLGN has proposed that Britain should follow the example of other European countries like the Netherlands, which has moved away from a nationally-produced database, to greater reliance on the use of administrative databases which can provide a continually updated "rolling" register.

The report pointed out that distrust of census statistics had already led some councils to develop their own population data from existing resources like NHS address records, the electoral roll and geo-referencing systems.

The NLGN has suggested that instead of spending £500m on the ten-yearly census the Government should use some of that money to help fund top-tier councils to collect data.

Its report has called for a review to focus on how a new system could be developed based on existing administrative database sources and bring in a system of national address registration.

The think-tank has made the case for a new duty on local authorities, their partners and central Government to work together to share data to form the basis of population information.

NLGN director Chris Leslie said: "The census has been around for two-hundred years and is no longer gathering the right sort of data for modern public services. Our proposals would make the most of the incredible amount of data already collected, drive joined-up services across government and save significant sums of money over the long term."

A Communities and Local Government Spokesperson said:

"Councils already have the security and stability of the first ever three-yearfinancial settlement with every council receiving an increase in core funding everyyear for the next three which they are free to spend as they see fit to meet localneeds and priorities. Funding is calculated using a variety of sources, using thebest and most robust data available at the time for all local authorities on a consistent basis."

Read the NLGN press release and report

Roger Milne

21 August 2008