[cma-l] Fwd: Media Release: Think tank calls for outdated Census to be scrapped

[Karl Hartland]

Hi all

....such a move would be of great benefit to CR in Cambridge re: CRO2004 
ad restrictions....

- -
Karl Hartland
209radio Station Manager

105 FM in the Cambridge City Area
http://209radio.co.uk everywhere else!

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Media Release

Embargoed: 00.01, Thursday 21st August 2008

All NLGN media enquiries to James Hulme – james.hulme at nlgn.org.uk/ 020 
7357 0116/ 07970721434.

Think tank calls for outdated Census to be scrapped

£500 million of public money will be wasted on the next Census according 
to a new report published today (Thur). The New Local Government Network 
claim that the information gathered will be out of date by the time it 
is published and underestimate the number of people living in Britain.

The report argues that the survey, which is conducted every ten years 
and due to occur next in 2011, cannot accurately reflect the true state 
of Britain because of poor quality information on households, high rates 
of population mobility, illegal immigration and a growing reluctance to 
fill in official forms. The 2001 Census was criticised for undercounting 
the British population by 900,000.

Figures based on the Census are used to allocate £100 billion of 
Government spending for local authorities and Primary Care Trusts. A 
number of London councils have criticised the figures for under-counting 
the number of migrants into their boroughs, meaning that they have fewer 
resources to cope.

The report instead advocates a ‘local head-count’ of an areas’ 
population, taken from a range of public services such as electoral 
registers, GP surgeries, school places and tax records. The information 
could then be collated to deliver a more accurate reflection of who 
lives in the local area. The report claims that this could slash costs 
of conducting the Census from an estimated £500 million and save at 
least £250 million.

The report found that public organisations already collect data and 
information on citizens through a large number of streams and that these 
can be supplemented by targeted surveys and focus groups to profile the 
population and its needs. This new approach, it argued, should be 
introduced as soon as possible.

The research also argues that many councils are mistrustful of census 
statistics, leading to many councils developing their own population 
data from existing. This means they can drill down to the neighbourhood, 
street and individual household level, and plot current and future 
demand for services or target vulnerable parts of the community.

NLGN Director Chris Leslie said:

"The census has been around for two hundred years and it is no-longer 
gathering the right sort of data for modern public services. We are left 
in a situation where not only does central government not know where it 
should distribute public money, but local councils do not have the 
information or flexibility to work out where best to spend money to 
tackle worklessness and crime, or to gauge where future demand will be 
for care homes and schools".