Mr John Taylor
Conservative, Solihull
To ask the Chancellor of the exchequer
(1) what the statutory penalties are for refusing to complete a decennial population census form for England and Wales; and how many successful prosecutions there were for that offence in connection with the censuses for (a) 1981, (b) 1991 and (c) 2001;
(2) what the statutory penalties are for unlawfully disclosing personal information from closed decennial population censuses for England and Wales; and how many successful prosecutions there have been for that offence since 1990.
Stephen Timms
The Financial Secretary to the Treasury
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. John Taylor, dated
As National Statistician and Registrar General for England and Wales I have been asked to reply to your recent questions asking (i) what the statutory penalties are for refusing to complete a decennial population census form for England and Wales; and how many successful prosecutions there were for that offence in connection with the censuses for (a) 1981, (b) 1991 and (c) 2001 and (ii) what the statutory penalties are for unlawfully disclosing personal information from closed decennial population censuses for England and Wales, and how many successful prosecutions there have been for that offence since 1990. (220592, 220593)
The penalty for failing to complete a census form is prescribed by Section 8(1) of the Census Act 1920 which states that on summary conviction a person shall be liable for a fine not exceeding level 3 on the standard scale.
The maximum fine of level 3 on the standard scale under the Criminal Justice Act 1982 was £1,000 at the time of the 2001 Census.
The numbers of successful prosecutions for failing to complete a census form in England and Wales were 692 in 1981, 342 in 1991 and 38 in 2001.
The statutory penalty for unlawfully disclosing personal census information is prescribed by Section 8 (5) of the Census Act 1920 as amended by the Census (Confidentiality) Act 1991 which states that (a) on summary conviction a person shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to both; (b) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to a fine or to both.
Since 1990 there has been one prosecution for unlawful disclosure of personal census information.
Yes3 people think so
No3 people think not
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