There’s no point harassing people to complete this pointless census

Householders who diligently filled in their census electronically have not been spared harassment by officials threatening £1,000 fines for non-completion. Thirty thousand field workers have been employed to chase up census forms and it appears that many of them have been making repeated visits to people whose questionnaires have already been submitted online. It’s all the fault of an IT failure, apparently. Given the personal nature of the information being gathered, such incompetence does not inspire faith in the state’s ability to protect our confidential information.

The situation is doubly ridiculous, however, because the census was hardly necessary in the first place.

From its modest beginnings in the 19th century, the census has ballooned in size. When public records were minimal and scattered around the country, a census was a government’s best opportunity to assess the size of the population. Questions were limited to the size of the household, and the sex and occupations of those living there.

As the state expanded, a new justification was found. The census was deemed to be an essential tool for determining where public resources should be allocated. Questions on ethnicity and religion were added later.

But the advent of electronic data collection has changed the picture entirely. The Office for National Statistics might still argue that the information provided enables the government to plan services such as healthcare, transport and education. But now that our personal data are collected by every public body and company with whom we come into contact, a household survey has become a clumsy, and most likely inaccurate, source of information. We are all logged, assessed, examined and inspected through every stage of life. Those who choose to remain unknown to officialdom, usually because they are living and working in this country illegally, are not likely to fill in a census form, or to be “at home” when the census inspector calls.

And that is not even to mention the cost. The last census, in 2011, was meant to be the last. After a row over its price-tag (around £500 million), ministers in the coalition government had threatened to abolish it altogether. Nothing came of that and this year’s exercise is estimated to cost an astonishing £1billion. In common with so many government departments and quangos, the bureaucracy underpinning the census threatens to be self-perpetuating, regardless of need or cost-effectiveness.

If the census was already on its last legs, surely the pandemic must kill it off? Answering questions about journeys to work when millions are furloughed or working from home is not going to help the Government decide future transport needs. The NHS is unlikely to need the census to find out how many people are going to require care in the next 10 years either – the cancelled operations and waiting lists are evidence enough.

The Scottish Government postponed its census until 2022 on the basis that many of the answers supplied this year will have little relevance by next spring. Westminster would have been wise to follow suit. Spending a billion pounds to create a fleeting snapshot of England in a pandemic is a waste of time and money. The Government does not need it and can no longer justify this intrusion in our lives.