The Office for National Statistics has unveiled a bizarre plan to replace the Census by gathering data from mobile phone users, electricity smart meters, Twitter and property site Zoopla.
Launched in 1801 under the Conservative government of William Pitt the Younger, the main criticism of the Census has been its cost. The last census in 2011 cost £625m, the most expensive project the ONS has undertaken.
Although marketers have to wait at least two years until they get their hands on the Census data – and some claim the information is then out of date- for companies such as Experian, Acxiom, Callcredit and Equifax, the Census provides crucial data on consumer trends and demographics, as well as social information, and forms the basis of many new products.
Census statistics are used to allocate public money for local services including education, housing, transport and health. Over £100bn per year of public money is distributed nationally using population estimates.
Two years ago, the Government was forced to scrap plans to cancel the Census, following a public outcry. The ONS has now commissioned four pilot schemes due to report back in 2023 to make the Census more relevant to modern life. It is hoped finding new sources of data will improve response rates and cut costs.
Roeland Beerten, director of policy at the Royal Statistical Society, told the Telegraph that the key thing about the Census was that it remained a high quality data resource.
“The ONS may be doing a lot of investigation into different kinds of data sources but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. It will have to prove to the public that the data is of a sufficiently high quality,” he said.
Jane Naylor, head of the ONS’s Big Data Project, added: “It isn’t just about saving money, it’s about updating and modernising the output that we can produce, keeping relevant and meeting our user needs.”
