JOINT UN-ECE/EUROSTAT MEETING ON POPULATION AND HOUSING CENSUSES GENEVA, 7-9 JULY 2010 DISSEMINATING THE RESULTS OF THE 2011 CENSUS IN ENGLAND AND WALES IAN WHITE, Office for National Statistics, UNITED KINGDOM

STRATEGIC AIMS UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs One of the most basic decisions in a census operation, and indeed a key decision about the quality of census results, is the trade-off between timeliness and accuracy. This is particularly important in designing the output strategy, in that the decision affects not only the dissemination team but all the preceding stakeholders in the census programme. In general, it can be expected that the faster a process is undertaken the greater the level of inaccuracy in the results of that process. It is also a general rule that users of census data will expect a high level of accuracy in the information provided by an official census agency. The census agency will have to manage this trade- off

STRATEGIC AIMS UK Office for National Statistics In the UK, the Office for National Statistics (ONS), together with the General Register Office for Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, recognises that the investment of time and resources in a national census is only justified if the results are made accessible to users speedily and in a clear and usable form. As was also the aim in the 2001 Census, ONS intends that technological developments should be harnessed in the 2011 Census in order to improve the accuracy, timeliness, accessibility and user- friendliness of published output.

Responding to user requirements Changing user needs content format timeliness accessibility flexibility harmonisation across UK less disclosure control EU requirements Requirement for products national, regional and local summaries reports on key topics (eg ethnic group, migration) origin-destination flows hypercubes flexible geographies microdata longitudinal data metadata commissioned output Media web-based output CD, DVD output printed reports SDMX

Legal basis for outputs Since 1920 Census Act 1920 (section 4) Reports to Parliament (no charge) Abstracts of other data (cost recovery) Since 2008 Statistics Act 2007 (section 20) Produce and publish statistics for UK or any part of it (discretionary charge)

Disseminating census data online

Microdata (Samples of Anonymised Records) First created at 1991 Census 2 per cent sample of individuals 1 per cent sample of households Expanded at 2001 Census 3 per cent sample of individuals 1 per cent sample of households 5 per cent sample of individuals in small area file Consultation with users ongoing for 2011 datasets

Longitudinal Study England and Wales ► Scotland ► Northern Ireland ►

EU Census Regulation requirements Hypercubes based on the UN-ECE ‘Core’ topics 60 Super-cubes (2-8 variables) 202 Sub-cubes (2-7 variables) Options for application for UK outputs being considered

Output Geography 2001 Census output geography 223,000 Output Areas (OAs) (target size 125 households) (minimum size 40 households) Super Output Areas (SOAs) (Lower) 2,000-3,000 households (Middle) 5,000-10,000 households (= LAU 2, NUTS 5) Administrative areas (NUTS 1-5), plus parishes, urban areas, National Parks, Parliamentary constituencies ….

Output geography 2011 Census geography – minimum change > 5 per cent of OAs (merges and splits) > 0.5 per cent of Middle Level SOAs

Thank you – Any questions ?