Chamber and committees

Scotland’s Census provides people, businesses and organisations with high quality data and analysis which is used to inform key decisions in relation to policy making, investment and the planning of services. The census also helps paint an important picture of the of the population, helping us to understand the similarities and differences in the population’s characteristics locally and nationally, now and over time. Therefore, it is vital that National Records of Scotland (NRS) delivers a census which ensures a high response rate and results in high quality outputs to meet the needs of its users.

Delivery of the census is a substantial logistical operation for NRS, with preparations in the year up to census day critical to the successful delivery of the census. Whilst NRS had been on track to take a census on 21 March 2021, the significant impact of COVID-19 on a range of public engagement, testing, procurement and operational priorities resulted in NRS asking the Scottish Government to consider additional options for Scotland’s Census.

NRS conducted a comprehensive options assessment on the risks of COVID-19 to the delivery of the census in March 2021. This work highlighted that a response rate of at least 90% needs to be achieved to produce the high quality census outputs required by users; the response rate for Census 2011, for example, was 94%. NRS has advised the Scottish Government that the disruption caused by COVID-19 placed delivery of next year’s census at considerable risk, with particular concern about the impact on achieving the comprehensive response necessary for the production of high quality outputs.

NRS considered a range of alternative options to mitigate the risks of COVID-19 and these were assessed against 10 criteria. These options included reducing the scope of the census. The conclusion from NRS was that the only option around which there is confidence of securing the high level of response rate required was moving the date of the census to March 2022. Other options had an estimated response rate that fell between 60% - 80%.

Therefore, NRS recommended to the Scottish Government that the census be taken in March 2022, as that would best secure a census that allows everyone to participate, and delivers its full benefit to the people of Scotland. We have decided to follow that recommendation. This will be only the second time that the census in Scotland has not been held every 10 years since 1801 (the other exception being 1941, when no census was taken), and is a further sign of the unprecedented times that we are in.

Scotland’s Census will now run to a different timescale to the censuses in the rest of the UK. NRS will work with the Office of National Statistics and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency to minimise the impact on UK data coherence to ensure that high quality data is available to inform policy, investment decisions and the planning of services that affect Scotland. NRS will also continue to work closely with our stakeholders and partners to support the needs of data users until the results from Scotland’s Census become available.

Later this year, the Scottish Government will lay amendments to both the Census (Scotland) Order 2020 and Census (Scotland) Regulations 2020 that will allow NRS to take a census in March 2022. No other aspects of Scotland’s Census will be affected.