To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Baroness Crawley on 13 January (WA 155–6), what criteria were used in the 2011 census ethnic question prioritisation exercise; what was the scoring system used to decide only to add the category of Gypsy or Irish Traveller to White ethnic group; what other categories were considered; and why an Irish category was included in 2001 and will be maintained it in 2011. [HL2489]

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Stephen Penneck, director-general for ONS, to Lord Laird, dated March 2010.

As the director-general for the Office for National Statistics (ONS) I have been asked to reply to your recent Question asking further to the Written Answer by Baroness Crawley on 13 January (WA 155-6), what criteria were used in the 2011 census ethnic question prioritisation exercise; what was the scoring system used to decide only to add the category of Gypsy or Irish Traveller to white ethnic group; what other categories were considered; and why an Irish category was included in 2001 and will be maintained in 2011.(HL2489)

The ethnic group question is already the longest in the census questionnaire. However, there were still demands for additional response categories. For the 2011 census, there was space only for two additional tick-boxes. As explained in answer to the previous Question referred to above, ONS developed a tool to prioritise requests for additional ethnic group tick-boxes. The ethnic group prioritisation exercise scored each ethnic group under consideration against seven criteria, which were grouped into four broader themes. These were:

1 Strength of need for information on that group

1.1 Group is of particular interest for equality monitoring or for policy development (for example, particularly vulnerable to disadvantage)

1.2 Group is of particular interest for service delivery

2 Lack of alternative sources of information

2.1 Write-in answers are not adequate for measuring this group

2.2 Other census information is inadequate as a suitable proxy

3 Clarity and quality of the information collected and acceptability to respondents

3.1 Without this tick-box respondents would be unduly confused or burdened and so the quality of information would be reduced (for example, if a large, well known or highly distinct group was left out and instead respondents from this group ticked a variety of options instead)

3.2 The addition of the tick-box and/or revised terminology is clear and acceptable to respondents (both in wording and in the context of the question, for example providing mutually exclusive categories) and provides the required information to an acceptable level of quality

4 Comparability with 2001 data

4 There will be no adverse impact on comparability

Potential tick-box categories were identified throughout the extensive period of consultation with users. A score of either 2, 1 or 0 was given to each category for each principle in accordance with the level of supporting evidence and analysis, ensuring a level of consistency in relation to each principle. The scoring method equated to:

2 High level of evidence

1 Medium level of evidence

0 Low level or no evidence

This was the system that was used to decide which tick-boxes to add to the ethnic group question, including Gypsy or Irish Traveller. Full details of the prioritisation tool can be found in an information paper on the website: http://www.ons.gov.uk/census/2011-census/2011-census-questionnaire-content/question-and-content-recormnendations-for-2011 /index.html.

Other categories considered are listed in the summary of scores shown at Annexe A in the information paper referred to above and as listed in a previous Answer in December 2009 (WA 230-31).

A particular case was made for the inclusion of an Irish category in the 2001 census by representatives of the Irish community in Britain to provide a more accurate and reliable basis for identifying and dealing with problems of disadvantage, such as health inequality, facing the Irish community. The inclusion of an Irish category was supported by the then Commission for Racial Equality as well as central government departments and Irish community groups.

The 2005 consultation showed a continuing requirement for information on the Irish community and found that statistics users were happy with the ethnic populations measured in the 2001 census. ONS therefore recommended that the “Irish” category, and all other categories from the 2001 census, be retained. Consultation on the 2011 census content identified a strong need for comparison of ethnic group statistics with the 2001 census. Consultation also showed that statistics users were happy with the ethnic populations measured in the 2001 census and the 2001 categories have therefore been retained for the 2011 census.