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>> If you don't do a headcount type census how do you gather information for policy
>> etc making?
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I don’t think the census will add anything useful from a policy making perspective, and I say that having spent some time in the last couple of months talking to the ONS area team for the South East.
Firstly COViD means that very little activity has taken place pre census to encourage people to participate. The activity that has taken place has followed a predictable civil service approach, which is to ‘reach out’ to councils and local authorities, who in term have engaged with parish councils and the like. But that approach is only going to reach those who’d have completed the census anyway...
The ONS perception is that the elderly and disadvantaged will have been missed out in the online approach. The reality is they’ve almost all managed, either directly or by asking friends/families to help, to complete a return. And don’t forget that COvID has pushed people online to keep in touch with family and friends far more effectively than any government campaign could have done.
The sections of society that haven’t engaged are certain ethnic groups, who are either distrusting or government, don’t understand the purpose of and see no point in engaging with the census. And knowing more about them might be useful. But they were not targeted pre census, little effort went into recruiting people who spoke the languages (though Welsh was covered...) and no work at all has gone into tackling it after census day.
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