1. 2001 Census Programme Delivering UK Census Data to Researchers: Progress and Challenges David Martin University of Southampton and ESRC/JISC Census Programme

2. 2001 Census Programme Overview UK Census basics Output products The ESRC/JISC Programme Access arrangements Changing environment Towards 2011

3. 2001 Census Programme UK census basics Decennial data collection, most recently 29 April 2001 Digital data series from modern censuses 1971 onwards NB national differences: England and Wales; Scotland; Northern Ireland Multiple products: standard and commissioned outputs

4. 2001 Census Programme What is a census? Questionnaire delivered to every household Legal obligation: 96% coverage Very many uses and users in all sectors Single most important social data source for small areas Source: ons.gov.uk

5. 2001 Census Programme Census topics Age, sex, marital status, household structure Country of birth/ethnicity Health/disability Economic status Housing, amenities Travel to work and cars Qualifications Source: ons.gov.uk

6. 2001 Census Programme Output products Principal datasets –Aggregate statistics –Boundaries –Microdata samples (SARs) –Interaction data –Longitudinal data (ONS LS, SLS) Supporting datasets –Lookup tables –Metadata

7. 2001 Census Programme Data acquisition and purchase for academic use Single online registration service provided by Census Registration Service for online resources Support for ONS and Scottish Longitudinal Studies The ESRC/JISC programme

8. 2001 Census Programme The ESRC/JISC programme 34,000 registered users in 594 HE/FE institutions (end April) 5,900 new registrations (Feb- April) 27,000 user accesses (Feb-April) New ESRC-funded round 2006- 11 to include integrated portal service and research and development projects

9. 2001 Census Programme Data support units Census Registration Service Census dissemination unit UKBORDERS Centre for Census and Survey Research Centre for Longitudinal Study Information and User Support Scottish Longitudinal Study Census Interaction Data Service

10. 2001 Census Programme Access arrangements Programme aim to protect the user from cost and complexity Multiple suppliers, multiple licences Different funding arrangements for successive censuses ESRC: 2001 Census Access Partner and commissioned output

11. 2001 Census Programme Registration and data access One-stop registration jointly with Economic and Social Data Service Based on Athens authentication, although moving to Shibboleth Direct access to online services Some datasets require acceptance of additional special conditions Most sensitive longitudinal and microdata not available online

12. 2001 Census Programme Registration – via Athens Complete online registration process Agree to the End User Licence Respond to confirmation email.

13. 2001 Census Programme Special conditions

14. 2001 Census Programme Changing environment 2001 One Number Census and Output Area Geography Enumeration difficulties, address listing and response rates International retreat from censuses (France, USA) 2011 post out/post back Flexible enumeration strategy

15. 2001 Census Programme Information environment Cross-government focus on neighbourhood renewal Need for information Role of census Increasing use of administrative information Neighbourhood Statistics Service

16. 2001 Census Programme Towards 2011 New census portal: integrated searchable metadata New methodological development: federated dissemination databases Further convergence of census and administrative information New round of discussion about access arrangements and costs

17. 2001 Census Programme How to find out more… http://census.ac.uk