The Census
in Relation to UK Law

1. Census Documents 
The relevant Census documents relating to the 2001 UK Census are as follows:-
The Census Act 1920
The Census Amendment Act 2000 - this amended the Census Act 1920 to allow questions on religion to be asked on the census. 
Notes on the Census Amendment Act 2000 
The Census Order 2000 
An amendment to the Census Order 2000 allowing for questions on religion to be asked
The Census Regulations 2000 
An amendment to the Census Regulations 2000 including the new questions on religion. If you go into this document and click in turn on 2000-1 through to 2000-8 you will see the latest versions of the Census form in .csf format. 
These documents are Crown Copyright but may be reproduced provided their source is stated. They can be found by going into http://www.hmso.gov.uk and then clicking on search and entering the words "census 2001" and clicking on "match all query items"
The latest version of the Census form in .pdf format suitable for reading by Adobe Acrobat 4.0 reader is also available on http://www.statistics.gov.uk - click on Census 2001 then on Census Forms then on England Household View/Download. This form is a lot easier to read than the 2000-1 through 2001-8 versions mentioned above.  
2. 1971 Census - Historical Precedents - Ian Dallison
(note1 at end)
2a. In April 1971 Ian refused to answer certain questions on the Census Form and subsequently was fined £30 which on principle he refused to pay and as a result received a 60 day prison sentence in Brixton Prison. His fine was paid anonymously after 7 days by one R.R.C-G (to this day Ian has no idea who RRC-G is) and so Ian only had to spend 7 days in Brixton Prison.
2b. Ian’s reasons for refusing to answer certain questions were that he considered them impertinent and an infringement of ones right to privacy, and also that information supplied in the Census could subsequently be used against the individual by an unscrupulous government. (The recent articles in the Sunday Times of 11/02/2000 which can be seen by going into www.sundaytimes.co.uk and then doing a search for "reich" from 1/1/1001 to date and then clicking on "Custom Made for the Reich" and "IBM's Guilty past" shows how Hitler used Censuses to round up and kill millions of Jews!).
2c. As a christian Ian would normally feel on the basis of I Peter 2:13-15 that obedience to the law was required - but on this occasion he felt that the authorities had gone beyond their God-appointed role of the punishment of evildoers and when they were simply poking their noses into people's private affairs no such obedience was required.
2d. Subsequent to Ian’s release from prison he petitioned the Queen that in future census forms should comprise a perforated slip down the left hand side of the form which consisted of a true counting of heads. This should be returned to the enumerator. The remainder of the form containing much private information should have no unique identifying marks on it and should be returned anonymously by post etc. This would enable central government to obtain its required statistics without them being attributable to any one person. Needless to say this petition was to no avail.

3. 1971 Census
Historical Precedents Anthony and Lesley Whittaker
3a. On 14/11/1972 legal history was made when the Whittakers won their appeal against a Census conviction in the High Court. They had been accused of refusing to make a Census Return on Census Day April 25'th. They had been very careful never to refuse and their barrister demonstrated brilliantly that as the Census Act 1920 stipulates no date by which a Census Return has to be made, failure to make a return cannot be construed to indicate refusal. The case was heard before Lord Chief Justice Widgery together with Lord Melfort Stevenson and Mr Justice Brabin  and the Whittakers won their appeal with costs against the Crown.
3b. In this connection the various legal sites on the Internet have been searched in an  attempt to establish whether the Census Act 1920 has since been amended to close this loophole, but to date it would appear that it has not been amended. A similar search of Statutes in Force in a reference library appears to confirm same. 

4. Recent Amendment to 1920 Census Act
to allow for questions on Religion
 4a. During 2000 the Government amended the 1920 Census Act to allow questions about religion to be put on the Census. Their reasons for this are explained in the Governments own Notes on the Census Amendment Act 2000 (see 1. above). 
4b. Website http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2000/rp00-043.pdf which is a House of Commons library research Website. It  gives a good discussion of the history of this amendment and explains that the Lords were not happy with the religious question being a compulsory one and SO FORCED AN AMENDMENT TO MAKE IT A VOLUNTARY QUESTION (See section II B of this document). 
4c. The danger of unsuspecting members of the public entering their religion on the census form is explained in 2b. above where Hitler used census results to butcher millions of Jews. People would therefore be well advised not to answer this VOLUNTARY question on their forms.

5. Issues of Confidentiality
5a. Website http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/rp2000/rp00-043.pdf which is a House of Commons library research Website discusses this issue in section I.4 of the report. There we are told that the original forms are locked away for 100 years and that the names and addresses of individuals are not entered onto the computerised census database. (The Census Form itself also states that the data will be kept securely for 100 years).
Against this, each census form is uniquely bar-coded and therefore data-bases will be essential for cross-checking and the avoidance of duplication and recording errors.  So anonymity cannot be offered, let alone guaranteed. Also there is every possibility that at some future date your personal details could be seen by E.U. officials.  The UK government has given no guarantee to the contrary, and the "supremacy" of EU law claimed in the metric martyr case now suggests it cannot give such a guarantee. Furthermore, the EU is known to be liasing with several other countries, including Rumania, Bulgaria, Latvia and Israel, and with the UN, with a view to sharing statistical data across the world.

5b. On the issue of confidentiality the Census Office stated on the telephone that :-
    a. Each Census form has on it a unique barcode
    b. Census Information will be held on their computerised databases together with this unique barcode
    c. In the event of a serious statistical query it would be possible to use this barcode to find details of the original form which will be held on a computerised microfiche system, but such an event would be highly unusual. It would not be possible for anyone from outside to hack into this computerised microfiche system. 
   d. ONS denied the existence of a separate computer file holding cross-reference data of barcodes and names and addresses. However from a purely data processing point of view it is difficult to see how such a file could fail to exist,  - otherwise to follow up after May 9'th those who have failed to make a return would be a mammoth task if it had to be done manually!.
5c An incident is known to the author from the 1971 Census where two of the author’s friends decided to test the alleged confidentiality of the Census. They deliberately ensured that certain unique identifying marks were put into their address, such as a very unusual house name. Six months after the Census was taken they  received a letter from the local health authority which appeared to make use of information they had supplied on the Census Form. The letter, would you believe it, was addressed to the precise address that had been entered on their Census form, thereby showing in their opinion that the data entered by them on their form was not being treated as confidentially as they had been led to believe that it would be treated!
5d. Clearly if the census information extracts supplied by the Office of National Statistics to Eurostat have no names and addresses and identifying criteria on them (as we are told by the ONS), and if the summaries are provided at a fairly high level, then the EU is going to be none the wiser about the precise identity of the individuals who supplied the original information. If the information was however supplied at a very low level of summary (e.g. a summary of each group of 10 houses) the confidentiality factor would be lower. The other danger is that the EU could subsequently insist on having all the original source material on the census made available to it. 
5d. There was a Census-Related Act  in 1991 called the Census Confidentiality Act - this is available on the HMSO Website . The wording of section 1.2 of this Act states :-
"(2) If the Registrar-General for England and Wales or the Registrar-General for Scotland ("the Registrars") or any person who is- 
 (a) under the control of either of the Registrars; or
 (b) a supplier of any services to either of them,
discloses any personal census information to another person, without lawful authority, he shall be guilty of an offence"
Presumably under this Act it would be construed that lawful authority had been granted to our supply of summarised Census Information to Eurostat. So it is  unlikely that this Act is relevant to the supply of Census information to other nations. 
6. Current State of Census Law in UK regarding Refusal or Neglect to fill in Census Form
6a. The UK Census date is April 29'th and returns must be made for all people resident in a household at midnight on April 29'th (i.e. the night of April 29/30)  
 6b. A look at   http://www.statistics.gov.uk/nsbase/countmein/education_quiz.html indicates that the maximum penalty for not completing the Census Form is now £1000 
6c. Section 8 of the Census Act 1920 states that :-
"If any person -
(a)	refuses or neglects to comply with or acts in contravention of any of the provisions of this Act or any Order in Council or regulations made under this Act; or
(b)    being a person required under this Act to make a statutory declaration with respect to the performance of his duties, makes a false declaration; or 
(c)     being a person required by any Order in Council or regulations made under this Act to make, sign, or deliver any document, makes, signs, or delivers, or causes to be made, signed, or delivered a false document; or
(d)    being a person required in pursuance of any such Order in Council or regulations to answer any question, refuses to answer or gives a false answer to that question; 
he shall for each offence be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding ten pounds.
The Census Act does not however specify any time limit or date by which returns must be made and so as explained in 3a above neglect or failure cannot be taken as constituting refusal. 
7. Current State of Census Law in UK regarding residence in household at Midnight on Census Night 
7a. The Census Order 2000 Section 4 states that a Census return must be made for all persons "usually resident" and the terms "usually resident" are defined in section 2 as including persons who :- 
                 (a) have a usual address in England and Wales;

                 ( b) are present at an address in England and Wales on census night and have no other usual address in England and Wales or elsewhere;
7b. The implication of this definition is that if a person is away from home and outside the country then no census return is required. The obvious interpretation of this section would be that  "usually resident" means (a) AND (b) as opposed to (a) OR (b).The ONS however in a telephone conversation with them disagreed with this interpretation.
        The Census Office interpretation of this definition was to place an "OR" (as opposed to an "AND") between the a) and b) clauses. The problem with their interpretation is that a person who lives in Rio de Janiero but was present at an address in the UK on Census night would have to make a return. I would argue therefore that an "AND" should go between the two clauses so as to exclude foreigners who are temporarily visiting. If we do put an "AND" between the two clauses then someone who lives in England but is in Scotland or France or Eire on Census night would not have to complete the form. 
(NOTE 1.	The examples given for historical precedent I.K. Dallison and A.& L. Whittacker were examples chosen from ease of material to hand but there were many others of public record.)
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The above report was written by Mr Ian Dallison on behalf of Sanity
and released for publication on the Internet on 16/04/2001.

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