James Duddridge (Whip, Whips; Rochford & Southend East, Conservative)

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what procedure governs the imposition of sanctions on respondents who fill in their census return incorrectly.

Angela Smith (Minister of State (Third Sector), Cabinet Office; Basildon, Labour)

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Letter from Jil Matheson, dated November 2009:

As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent question asking what procedure governs the imposition of sanctions on respondents who fill in their census return incorrectly. (297472)

During the 2011 Census blank or incomplete responses will be identified during the data capture operation and residents will be contacted by census staff while the field operation is still ongoing to obtain the required information.

In a case where a questionnaire is returned, but has been incorrectly completed there are a number of possible outcomes. Where responses are missing in an otherwise completed return, or where there are incorrect answers that are inconsistent with other responses, then edit and imputation processes will be applied at the data processing stage and generally residents will not be recontacted

If a questionnaire has inappropriate comments or obscene remarks written in place of answers or has been left intentionally blank, it would be treated under a non-compliance procedure. Under this procedure census staff revisit addresses and, where appropriate, offer help with completing the form so that a return can be made as prescribed in the Census (England and Wales) Order 2009, the Draft of which was laid before parliament on Wednesday 21 October 2009.

The penalty for failure to make a census return is specified in Section 8 (1) of the Census Act 1920 which prescribes a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale. The standard scale is that set out in the Criminal Justice Act and the maximum fine is currently £1,000. Prosecutions for refusing to complete a census return are conducted in a Magistrates Court and the award of costs against the defendant is at the discretion of the Magistrate.

The Office for National Statistics would prosecute only those who persistently refuse to make a return, and not in cases where genuine mistakes have been made, or where people are incapable of completing a return for whatever reason.