You asked
My request is in two parts:
Part A)
I request a detailed description, for each and all of the Questions in the Census, that states:
a) Why you need that information.
b) Why that information is not available from other existing sources.
c) How the responses to each Question will be cross correlated with each other.
Part B)
I request information about the involvement of your commercial contractors Serco Group Plc and Leidos Innovations UK Ltd in the Census.
Specifically, I wish to know:
a) what involvement did those two above companies, their agents, their parent and partner companies, and their sub-contractors have in deciding which questions to ask in the Census?
b) Were the decisions about which questions to ask in the Census taken 100% by ONS staff and other UK Government Civil Servants, or were non-Governmental agencies, companies and individuals involved?
c) Please describe the internal Governance arrangements, structures, and processes that ONS followed when deciding what questions to ask in the Census
d) Please tell me what proportion of the staff of Serco and Leidos, their agents, their parent and partner companies, and sub-contractors, who are involved in any role with Census 2021, are based in the UK, and what proportion are based in other countries.
We said
Thank you for your request.
The questions for Census 2021 were recommended by the Office for National Statistics' (ONS) after an extensive programme of research, consultation and engagement over 3 years, prior to being published in the Government's 2018 White Paper 'Help Shape our Future: The 2021 Census of Population and Housing in England and Wales (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-2021-census-of-population-and-housing-in-england-and-wales).
The ONS website outlines our question development and research across the range of census questions (https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/censustransformationprogramme/questiondevelopment). The help pages for each census question also gives a summary of why the question is asked (these can be accessed via https://census.gov.uk/help/how-to-answer-questions)
Our 'Assessment of initial user requirements on content for England and Wales' (https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/censustransformationprogramme/consultations/the2021censusinitialviewoncontentforenglandandwales), published in May 2016, sets out the user need for topics and questions suggested for Census 2021. One of the evaluation criteria was 'Alternative sources':
"The 2021 Census will only seek to collect information that there is no other means of obtaining. Consideration should be given to whether or not suitable information is available from other sources; for example administrative records or sample surveys." (p.6)
As regards how census statistics will be cross-tabulated, our consultations on Census 2021 Outputs are ongoing. The first consultation on the proposed design of Census 2021 Outputs took place in 2018. There will be a final consultation in Spring/Summer 2021 which will outline more detailed plans, feeding into the final design of outputs which will be published in the Outputs Prospectus in Autumn/Winter 2021. The Census 2021 Outputs pages on the ONS website set out more information about our plans and ongoing consultation (https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/censustransformationprogramme/census2021outputs).
Following the ONS's recommendations and the 2018 White Paper (referred to above), the topics and questions for Census 2021 were set in law in early 2020 through the Census Order and Census Regulations. The ONS census legislation and policy webpage (https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/censustransformationprogramme/legislationandpolicy) provides further details and links to the legislation. The final questions were included in the Census Regulations which were signed by the relevant UK Government Minister in relation to England and Welsh Government Minister in relation to Wales, and laid before the respective parliaments.
No suppliers were involved in the decisions around questions and topics recommended for Census 2021. The ONS commissioned external research agencies to conduct specific pieces of research, including focus groups and large-scale surveys. A list of all tests, stating which were conducted by an external research agency is published on the ONS website (https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/censustransformationprogramme/questiondevelopment/summaryoftestingforcensus2021). Serco and Leidos were not suppliers used for any research related services. Serco Ltd have been contracted to supply Public Contact Centre services and Leidos Innovations UK Ltd have been contracted to provide services relating to the capture of data from completed questionnaires. The roles of our suppliers in the delivery of Census 2021 are shown on the ONS website page on Census 2021 suppliers (https://www.ons.gov.uk/census/censustransformationprogramme/2021censussuppliers).
Decisions on the questions for Census 2021 were made by the ONS through its internal governance structures, being agreed by the Census Question and Questionnaire Design Project Board and the Population and Public Policy Transformation Board. The White Paper referred to above, containing the ONS's recommendations, was approved by the UK Statistics Authority Board. No suppliers were involved in those approval processes.
Everyone working on the Census signs the Census Confidentiality Undertaking. This includes people working for the Census offices and for suppliers supporting delivery of the Census. It's a crime for them to unlawfully share personal Census information. ONS has a strict security regime that follows government standards. This includes physical and IT security measures to protect your information. Suppliers are contractually obligated to follow this regime.
Specifically, the hosting of sensitive Census electronic data resides exclusively on dedicated equipment physically located within a secure data centre within a UK-based data processing centre and the storage of Census paper Questionnaires, both blank and completed, will reside only on UK soil.
All our systems, staff and suppliers must protect the confidentiality of Census data and personal data by law. Laws in place that cover protection of your data include the:
- Data Protection Act 2018
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- Census Act 1920
- Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007
All staff working for Serco are based in the UK. Interpretation services for a small number of less-frequently needed languages are supplied by Serco via a subcontract and, if called upon, may be provided by interpreters based outside the UK. This service is provided by telephone and at no time will interpreters have access to ONS systems.
All staff working for Leidos on Census 2021 are employed through a UK-owned company.