FOI REF: FOI/2023/5095
You asked
This FOI relates to this statement published on the ONS website on 14 April 2023:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/statementsandletters/genderidentityincensus2021
1) Which languages was the Census translated into and what was the exact translation used for the question "Is the gender you identify with the same as your sex registered at birth?" for each of these languages.
2) Please send the technical report containing the methodology and results of the "widespread testing" of the gender identity question.
3) Please send all meeting minutes where the results of the "widespread testing" was discussed and the final formulation decided upon.
We said
Thank you for your request.
Question 1:
The translated versions of the census questionnaire are available online. They were made available through the Language support section of the Census 2021 website, which is still accessible through the Government Web Archive: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20210321073250/https://census.gov.uk/help/languages-and-accessibility/languages (This URL shows the website on Census Day, 21 March 2021).
This page lists the languages in which support was provided, each of which include a translation booklet include a translation of the household paper questionnaire (other than British Sign Language, where videos were provided). These booklets can be downloaded through the archived version linked above. The translated paper questionnaire appears on the third page for each language, after the overview and online completion support pages. For reference, the final questionnaires in English and Welsh are available on our Census 2021 paper questionnaires page.
Question 2 and 3:
There is no single "technical report" for the testing carried out for the gender identity question. The development and testing of this new question took place iteratively over five years between the Census 2021 topic consultation in 2015 and the finalisation of the questions through the census legislation in 2020. Information about our testing and research was published at the time, for example in the December 2017 and December 2018 topic updates, which informed the recommendation in the Census White Paper to include the gender identity question in Census 2021.
The question wording for the gender identity question in the 2019 Census Rehearsal and in Census 2021 was agreed at a Census Statistical and Outputs Design Project Board meeting on 26 November 2018.
The 'Decision note' for this item is available to view in the associated download "Census Statistical Outputs Design Gender Identity Project board decision notes.pdf" This notes the board's agreement with the recommended question wording and includes an embedded document summarising the research, engagement and testing up to that stage – associated download "Gender Identity project board.pdf"
This document recommends wording for the gender identity question and response options including 'prefer not to say'.
References in the document to National Records of Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency similarly reflect their positions at that stage and not necessarily their final recommendations for their respective censuses.
The note circulated to attendees stated that the board approved the recommendations in the paper, and that the 'prefer not to say option might or might not be concluded depending on the White Paper. Following the White Paper commitment to legislate for the question to be voluntary, the board agreed on 25 April 2019 to remove the 'prefer not to say' option from the question.
The testing and research presented to the Census Statistical and Outputs Design Project Board, and subsequent question development work, are also summarised on our website in the Sex and Gender Identity question development page. This testing included a range of small- and large-scale tests, both specific to the gender identity question and as part of the census questionnaire, including the 2019 Census Rehearsal that was completed by over 100,000 households. The testing included transgender respondents and people whose gender identity is the same as their sex registered at birth, to ensure that the question was understood and acceptable to people who would be answering it in different ways. Following the 2019 Rehearsal, as is normal practice, ONS finalised the wording of the questions to be included in the Census Regulations for use in Census 2021.
Annex 2 to the question development report lists the research and testing that included the gender identity question. Details about our census question testing can be found in our Summary of testing for Census 2021 spreadsheet, which can be filtered by topic.
Personal data has been redacted from the attachments accompanying this response in line with Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Some information has also been redacted as it is out of scope of this request.