This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Census Test to be held across Scotland
31/05/2005
A Census Test is to be carried out across Scotland on
April 23, 2006, it was announced today.
The test is designed to help decide exactly how the 2011
Census will be carried out, and will run in parts of
Glasgow City, West Dunbartonshire, Highland, Stirling,
Perth & Kinross and Argyll & Bute Council
areas.
It will try out possible new Census questions and will
test different ways of making the Census form easier to
complete, particularly for groups of people who do not find
it easy to complete Census forms. And it will help the
design of the follow-up to the Census - the processing of
the information on the forms, the quality checks and the
production of the Census results.
Deputy Minister for Finance, Public Service Reform and
Parliamentary Business Tavish Scott said:
"2011 - the likely date of the next Census - seems very
far away. But the Census is such a complex and important
task that work needs to start now.
"We have chosen to test some new questions, and
different approaches to carrying out the Census, in the
kinds of places which have been hard to reach in the past -
with the aim of reducing the burden on people who complete
Census forms and improving the cost-effectiveness of the
operation."
A map showing the test areas is available on the GRO
website at:
http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/census/censushm2011/index.html
The test includes rural areas with many holiday homes,
inner-city areas with a relatively high number of ethnic
minority people and peripheral housing estates.
About 52,000 households will be asked to complete a
Census form. Although the Census itself is compulsory, the
completion of forms will be voluntary in the Census Test.
But, as in a full Census, the information on the forms will
be kept confidential. No information about identifiable
individuals or households will be made available outside
the General Register Office for Scotland (the Government
department which runs the Census in Scotland). Everyone
working on the Census Test will sign a confidentiality
promise.
Before the 2001 Census, a similar Census Test was held
in 1997 which proved invaluable for paving the way for the
Census itself.