FOI Reference: FOI-2023-1635
You asked
May I request the following information ?
1. UK population analysis by ethnicity.
2. Number of UK households claiming Social security by ethnicity.
3. Prison population for each ethnic group, as % of the total population of that ethnic group.
We said
Thank you for your freedom of information request.
Although the UK censuses historically take place on the same day they are run separately by each National Statistics Office (Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (NISRA), National Records of Scotland (NRS), and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for both England and Wales).
Scotland's census was moved to 2022 so their detailed census data is not available yet. Please see their website for information: https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/
Northern Ireland's census was taken in 2021 and you can access their census data here: https://www.nisra.gov.uk/statistics/2021-census/results
The publication of UK Census 2021 and 2022 outputs is dependent on the availability of Scotland's Census 2022 data.
Population of England and Wales by ethnicity
The population of England and Wales by ethnic group can be extracted from the Nomis webservice. Nomis is a service run on behalf of the ONS by the University of Durham.
Analysis showing the number of prisoners by ethnic group is not available in either the 'Create a custom dataset', (a tool that enables you to make your own datasets combining variables from demography and migration, UK armed forces veterans, ethnic group, national identity, language and religion, Welsh language skills, housing, labour market and travel to work, education and health, disability and unpaid care) or the ready-made datasets. However, you may be able to commission a bespoke dataset.
Please see the following link for information on the commissioned table service and our charging policy. Work on new requests is expected to begin in early January 2024.
On receipt of your completed order form, you will be added to the waiting list. Please note that any table commissioned will have to pass our strict statistical disclosure control process to ensure there is no risk of disclosure of personal information in the table. More information on this process is available here: Design for Census 2021 - Office for National Statistics ons.gov.uk.
If you have any further queries about the census or require assistance with using the Nomis webservice, please contact Census Customer Services at ,Census.Customer.Services@ons.gov.uk..
Society security claims by ethnicity
We do not hold information regarding the number of households claiming benefits by ethnicity. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) may be better placed to answer this part of your request. They can be contacted via the following email address: freedom-of-information-request@dwp.gov.uk.