Today is Census Day!
Hopefully you will have received your paper copy by now, but if not, get in touch with the census helpline as soon as possible to order another copy. You can also fill it out online to avoid further delays.
Question 21 is the voluntary question on religion - write or type in BELIEVERINBIOLOGY in the space provided.
As a further protest, you can also send a letter to the National Records of Scotland.
In last year's England and Wales census, people were offered a draft letter they could put in with their paper census copy, lodging an objection to their data being held or processed as meaning anything other than their biological sex. The letter made use of rights to object to personal data being handled in particular ways, under the GDPR. The census is covered by the GDPR rules.
A similar version is now available for the current Scottish census. Whether the NRS will treat these letters as seriously as they should remains to be seen. But as a GDPR-related communication they should be legally obliged to respond.
Amend the letter to include your name, address and date, and include it with the census paper copy. It can also be sent separately, by anyone who has completed online. Make sure you keep a copy of the letter for yourself, just in case you don't get a reply and want to follow it up. A separate letter should be included for each household member who wants to object.
TEMPLATE LETTER
[Insert your address on the right hand side of the page]
Paul Lowe
Registrar General
National Records of Scotland
c/o Freepost SC2022
[insert date on the right hand side of the page]
Dear Mr Lowe,
CENSUS 2022: OBJECTION TO DATA PROCESSING
I am pleased that the NRS recognises that “the sex question provides vital information for organisations on national and local population statistics, and for long term analysis, as it has been asked since 1801. This question is also used for equality monitoring.”
I am therefore disappointed that the NRS has issued guidance on Question 3 (“sex”) which states that “If you are transgender the answer you give can be different from what is on your birth certificate. You do not need a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC).” In doing so, it has rejected the definition of sex used in the Equality Act and made census data incompatible with that. The Inner House of the Court of Session ruled on 18 February that sex under the Equality Act means “biological sex”.
I am therefore writing to you, as data controller for Scotland’s Census 2022 under the Data Protection Act 2018, to exercise my right to object under Article 21(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to the information I have provided in response to Question 3 being processed as anything other than my sex registered at birth. This includes all recording, storing and reporting. My reason for raising this objection is that my biological sex was accurately registered at birth. It cannot be changed. I therefore do not want my response to be treated in any context as possibly representing a “sex” other than my sex registered at birth.
I am also exercising my right to obtain from you as data controller a restriction of processing under Article 18(1)(d) of the GDPR, which applies where the data subject “has objected to processing pursuant to Article 21(1) pending the verification whether the legitimate grounds of the controller override those of the data subject”. I am seeking this restriction only in relation to any processing of my response to Question 3 as anything other than my sex registered at birth. I understand that the NRS has one calendar month to respond to my objection. If it intends to override my objection it should let me know, explaining its decision and must demonstrate to me that it has legitimate grounds to do so. Please use the address at the top of this letter for your response.
Yours sincerely,
[SIGN AND PRINT FULL NAME HERE]