Policy and Methodology

We run Scotland's census under the Census Act 1920, available on the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website. The Scottish Parliament approved the Census Order and Regulations for the 2011 Census. Our approach is set out in key documents including a UK-wide harmonisation agreement and quality strategy.

 

Scottish Government ministers published proposals for the 2011 Census in December 2008 - Scotland's Census 2011 - A Government Statement. These set out how questionnaires will be securely collected, processed and analysed to produce high-quality statistics.

At the same time, National Records of Scotland (NRS), formerly the General Register Office for Scotland published an evidence paper to support its planned approach to delivering the 2011 Census.

Since December 2008, a number of changes have been made to the assumptions made in the Government Statement. These have been identified through a combination of lessons learned from the 2009 Census Rehearsal and the parliamentary approval process for the census questions. The key changes are summarised in the Report on changes to Government Statement published in December 2008 (PDF 58 Kb).

NRS works closely with the census offices for England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The countries’ Registrar Generals pledged to conduct the census on the same day and to provide comparable census results (subject to the approval, where appropriate, of the relevant legislatures).

 

The UK’s census offices have also agreed to apply the principles set out in the 2011 Census Quality Strategy.

 

2011 Census Data Quality Assurance Strategy (214 Kb)
This strategy describes plans for data quality assurance of Scotland's 2011 census

 

Scotland’s Census 2011 - Equality Impact Assessment (PDF 92 Kb)
This paper, published in October 2010, details the work undertaken to make the census accessible to everyone.

2011 Census Security: Report of the Independent Review Team (PDF 262kb)

The UK Censuses are some of the most important data collection exercises undertaken by the UK Governments. Public confidence that personal census information will be securely handled is a vital ingredient for success.

 

All three census offices have given firm undertakings that this data will be used solely for statistical purposes, and that it will be treated in strict confidence. This report gives the findings of an independent review of the extent to which these undertakings will be met.

Information Assurance Policy Statement by the UK Census Offices (PDF 107 Kb)
This policy outlines the commitments that have been adopted on Information Assurance (IA) for the 2011 Census.

NRS also commissioned security experts Logica to carry out an Independent Security Review of the security arrangements in place for the 2011 Scottish Census. Logica's findings are contained in this report.

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