David Morton
Lifetime Supporter
A few months ago I signed a petition that complained about the form that will be used for the 2011 census. It had various spaces where you could indicate you might be a gypsy or what ever and this campaign to the Prime Minister was to have a space where I could indicate my ethnicity at English.
Here is the response:
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to urgently request of the Office of National Statistics (ONS) that it amends the proposed 2011 census form by providing a tick-box for those who want to record their identity as English. The proposed census form finds room for such a tick-box for ‘Gypsy or Irish Traveller’ but not for the ethnic English!.”
Details of Petition:
“The ONS in dealing with the English in the draft 2011 census form seems to be confusing ‘national identity’ with ‘ethnic identity’. This is a serious matter as unless the ethnic English have the same statistical information available to them as is available to other ethnic groups, the English will be hindered in their attempts to challenge and end the institutionalised and other forms of racism perpetuated against them. The immediate and most obvious form of institutionalised discrimination is the failure of the British state and its institutions to recognise the existence of the ethnic English and to collect information that will help the group fight the discrimination it is subject to on a daily basis. It is because the ethnic English are not recognised as such by the census forms that we do not appear on so-called ethnic monitoring forms. It is due to the failings of the ONS that the ethnic English are statistically invisible. The above represents a potential tragedy in the making for the ethnic English. It should be a priority for the ONS to rectify the situation by providing the ethnic English with a tick-box in the 2011 census form.”
Read the Government’s response
Anyone who wants to record their identity as ‘English’ in the 2011 Census can do so in two ways: the national identity question, which is a new question for 2011, has a tick box for ‘English’; the ethnic group question has a tick box labelled ‘English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British’ but also provides the opportunity to write in ‘English’ if this is preferred.
The ethnic group and national identity questions are subjective and people may describe their ethnicity and identity in which ever way they choose. It is not possible to include in the ethnic group question a specific category for every ethnic group that has been requested but the list of categories is designed to enable the majority of the population to identify themselves in a manageable way and for which there is greatest user need for information and in particular to allow for comparability with the information collected in the 2001 Census. The two separate questions on the questionnaire are designed so that the resulting statistics can be combined.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) believes that this new method of recording data on ethnic group/identity is a much simpler way to catch the various ethnic backgrounds that exist within England and Wales and allows for a much more detailed statistical analysis of the information collected.
Parliament has now approved the Census (England and Wales) Order 2009 which sets out the question topics to be asked in the 2011 Census.
Here is the response:
“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to urgently request of the Office of National Statistics (ONS) that it amends the proposed 2011 census form by providing a tick-box for those who want to record their identity as English. The proposed census form finds room for such a tick-box for ‘Gypsy or Irish Traveller’ but not for the ethnic English!.”
Details of Petition:
“The ONS in dealing with the English in the draft 2011 census form seems to be confusing ‘national identity’ with ‘ethnic identity’. This is a serious matter as unless the ethnic English have the same statistical information available to them as is available to other ethnic groups, the English will be hindered in their attempts to challenge and end the institutionalised and other forms of racism perpetuated against them. The immediate and most obvious form of institutionalised discrimination is the failure of the British state and its institutions to recognise the existence of the ethnic English and to collect information that will help the group fight the discrimination it is subject to on a daily basis. It is because the ethnic English are not recognised as such by the census forms that we do not appear on so-called ethnic monitoring forms. It is due to the failings of the ONS that the ethnic English are statistically invisible. The above represents a potential tragedy in the making for the ethnic English. It should be a priority for the ONS to rectify the situation by providing the ethnic English with a tick-box in the 2011 census form.”
Read the Government’s response
Anyone who wants to record their identity as ‘English’ in the 2011 Census can do so in two ways: the national identity question, which is a new question for 2011, has a tick box for ‘English’; the ethnic group question has a tick box labelled ‘English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British’ but also provides the opportunity to write in ‘English’ if this is preferred.
The ethnic group and national identity questions are subjective and people may describe their ethnicity and identity in which ever way they choose. It is not possible to include in the ethnic group question a specific category for every ethnic group that has been requested but the list of categories is designed to enable the majority of the population to identify themselves in a manageable way and for which there is greatest user need for information and in particular to allow for comparability with the information collected in the 2001 Census. The two separate questions on the questionnaire are designed so that the resulting statistics can be combined.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) believes that this new method of recording data on ethnic group/identity is a much simpler way to catch the various ethnic backgrounds that exist within England and Wales and allows for a much more detailed statistical analysis of the information collected.
Parliament has now approved the Census (England and Wales) Order 2009 which sets out the question topics to be asked in the 2011 Census.
