Census

[Trifle]

I know someone posted yesterday but I cant find the thread but I;ve just received mine in the post today.

For those who havent got theirs it is pages and pages long.

How the frig can knowing about my qualifications, ethnic origin, how many O levels I got have any bearing on what public transport to provide.

Why the fuck do they need to know what I do for a living and why should I 'briefly describe what I do'. How is that going to help them decide what health care to provide.

I mean, why do they need to know how many rooms I have, what heating system it has.

Such a gross invasion of privacy.

Where does it say that by law I have signed up for this shit.

Oh yes Baroque, I do understand not everyone is registered where they could be, and government departments can't communicate, but then again, not everyone is going to fill in the census because they either can't be arsed/disagree with the principal/other reason, so it's not going to be an accurate snap shot anyway.

It seems the government(and local authorities) can come out with some fairly accurate figures on the population when they need to, so maybe it's time to "retire" the census and spend the £450-£500 million that it's costing elsewhere.

I am not someone who is usually bothered by these things (I would happily have my DNA on a national database {if current methods and restrictions were in place}) but I do think that some of the questions are a bit too intrusive.

I understand the need to know the links betwwen education and levels of employment and housing needs etc but I fail to understand why they need to know the name and address of my employer??? surely that I work in x industry is enough?

all they have to do is look up your (whatever your number is equivalent to our PPS number is, your work code) to see what your employers name and address is, its not a secret from anyone, so how can it be intrusive?

Not all that info is together though is it. I mean my work code doesnt state my religion or the number of bedrooms in my house. My gut feeling is that it is a bit too much detail of me in one place

I think you are flattering yourself that anyone is too interested. And since you are obliged by law to do it, then it doesn't matter whether you like it or not.

I agree cat64 and I don't think it is too much to ask people to cooperate.

I'm going to make a stab at explaining why some of the supposedly intrusive questions get asked:

Ethnic origin: so the govt. can say with confidence to racists, actually only X% of this country is non-white. So that when researchers are looking at something like, say, air pollution, they can say with confidence whether brown people get more less of it on average than white people. Non-white status used to go into the Jarman index (used to map medical needs), I think, but probably not used for the modern social affluence measures.

Academic qualifications, married, cohabiting status, number of rooms: those answers go into calculating relative social deprivation stats (or lack thereof). (who actually knows the square footage of their property? ) The number of rooms one goes into the old Townsend stat (I think it's Townsend, very popular measure that one), is there for historical reasons, really, to try to compare the change in Townsend measure over time; you're right, it's not as good as square footage would be. But also is a general indicator of possible overcrowding and future housing needs.

Names of your visitors: to try to get accurate head counts of homeless, people not otherwise recorded in the census.

Is one being sent to every household as we havent received one yet?

ragged - I agree with all your points. I can see the point of most of the questions but still fail to see the relevance of my employers name and address. I know we all have to do it and have dutifully filled mine in on-line. When I can see the logic in a question I have no problem with it. When there is no logic it feels intrusive.

As a snapshot of 2011 though the picture is skewed because co-habitees are deemed as 'non-marrieds', the same as single people.

Is that true, Hocus? Do you get to put down cohabiting as a separate category or are the answers ONLY married or single? If cohabiting is an option as a response, then you can bet the analysts will play with it as an interesting variable.

Onlyjuststillme: Name and address of Employer, why is it asked? From Southend council: "The address and postcode of the employer is one of a number of questions contained in the census questionnaire about jobs, place of work, hours of employment and methods of travel to work. Answers to these questions help to build a profile of the economy of England and Wales and provide the foundation for other labour market and economic statistics published by ONS. "

Which sounds like pretty important info for the govt. to be tracking.

Yes the govt. could probably get it from other sources, but I can't express what madness I think it would be to try to create a complete and accurate substitute database for the type of answers the Census elicits, including these employment-related questions.

LisaLisa you could phone your local council to ask why you haven't got a form yet, but I'd wait at least another week if it were me.

I think by knowing the exact name and address of your employer, Onlyjuststillme, they can recategorise what industry that employer is in. You could simply report you worked in "steel manufacturing", but is that manufacturing auto parts or steel cans for the drinks industry? Give more specific info and the ONS can adjust the economic categories as suits analytical needs.

thats not true about counting co-habitees as single. there is an option for not married or civil-partnered, and a seperate one for never married or cp'd.

It doesn't take long to complete. Get over it.

Haven't had time to read the whole thread, but it took me minutes to fill it in. Oh, except what am I meant to put for 4mo ds - what language does he speak? What language does he understand? And where was he living one year ago?!! Seriously, there isnt the option of n/a

i still don't understand the point of the question about overnight visitors as it asks their name normal address etc so surely then not about homeless?!

this is the only question i feel is intrusive.

@ EdwardEricCan'tDecide (I like Edward better myself, btw):

What if your visitor doesn't have a conventional usual address? What if they don't fill in the form when they get back home? It helps track down who didn't get included on the night & make sure someone goes to collect their answers later. Also can calculate how many were visiting from outside the country. It also gives a picture of how often people are absent from home... not sure how that's useful, but it might be relevant to the insurance industry for instance, or anyone involved in planning emergency services in case of an evacuation.

LisaLisa there is a Census hotline elsewhere, one of the other Census threads, says you should have the form by 18 March, I think.

@ ragged, i go through phases is currently edward

thanks for your answer, unfortunately they'll just learn from me that i'm really boring don't get overnight visitors etc

I have no objections to the cencsus but am pigging stuck I was born in germany but because my dad was in army.
I have a british birth certificate.
If i put germany as my birth place it then asks me when i came to uk??? surely i was born on british ground (ie inside army barrics).
Even if not the i have no idea when i came to the uk the first time as would have been a small child and then moved lots more times to different places.????????

you were born in Germany.

I don't know how you reconcile the rest of it...

Co-habitees tick the same box as single people i.e. never married. (Or you can tick divorced, widowed etc) Or have I completely mis-read it?