Questions and answers

Question reference: S5O-04536

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 September 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what its response has been to reports that many community facilities run by charitable trusts are on the verge of collapse due to reduced income caused by the lockdown conditions.

Question reference: S5O-04514

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 August 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 27 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how much of the £97 million in UK Government consequentials announced on 5 July has been allocated as packages of support for the arts, culture and heritage sectors and when a decision will be made on allocation of the remaining funding.

Question reference: S5W-31003

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 17 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it had with the (a) UK Government and (b) other devolved administrations ahead of the decision to delay the census until 2022.

Throughout consideration of the options for Scotland’s Census, National Records of Scotland (NRS) engaged with colleagues in the Office of National Statistics (ONS) who are responsible for conducting the England and Wales Census, and with the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) who are responsible for conducting the census in Northern Ireland. Each of the census authorities have had to consider the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their plans for their respective censuses.

The UK Government and devolved administrations were informed of the decision to move Scotland’s Census to 2022 by myself on 17 July 2020.

Question reference: S5W-30998

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the decision to delay the census until 2022, when it expects the subsequent census to take place.

Question reference: S5W-31000

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it gave to implementing a shorter delay to the census that was originally scheduled for 2021.

Question reference: S5W-31001

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether the options assessment work regarding the next census included consideration of using field staff alongside online form completion.

National Records of Scotland (NRS) considered a range of options that had the potential to preserve the 2021 census date. All of these options however involved significant change to the design of the census, reducing scope. A summary of the options appraisal work undertaken by NRS to inform their recommendation can be found here . While these would have preserved the census date each was judged as highly likely to result in significant reductions in response rates and the quality of the census data.

NRS consider that a response rate of at least 90% needs to be achieved to enable the delivery of high quality census outputs. For example, the response rate for Census 2011 was 94%. Achieving such uniquely high compliance is dependent on advanced publicity and marketing, the use of field based staff, extensive engagement with a range of community and specialist interest groups and considerable preparatory work with a range of bodies including Local Government and the NHS. A number of these activities have been delayed or impacted due to covid, not only within NRS but also across a range of partners.

NRS’s conclusion was that the only option around which there is confidence of securing the high level of response rate required was moving the date of the census to March 2022. Other options, that preserved the March 2021 date, had an estimated response rate that fell between 60% - 80%.

Based on this work NRS recommended to Scottish Ministers to move Scotland’s Census to 2022. The priority for NRS and the Scottish Government is to deliver Scottish Census outputs to the quality required by users. The Scottish Government agreed with NRS’s recommendation that a delay of one year provides the best opportunity to do this.

Question reference: S5W-31002

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it had with other census organisations to inform its decision to delay the census until 2022.

Throughout consideration of the options for Scotland’s Census, National Records of Scotland (NRS) engaged with colleagues in the Office of National Statistics (ONS) who are responsible for conducting the England and Wales Census, and with the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) who are responsible for conducting the census in Northern Ireland. Each of the census authorities have had to consider the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their plans for their respective censuses.

Scottish Government have made the decision to move Scotland’s Census to 2022 as this is the only option in which there is confidence of producing high quality outputs and deliver the benefits required by the people of Scotland.

Question reference: S5W-31005

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when the decision was taken to delay the census until 2022.

Question reference: S5W-30999

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government when testing of systems and processes for the 2022 census will begin.

Question reference: S5W-30997

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 July 2020
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 August 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how it will mitigate any impact on service planning because of the decision to delay the census until 2022.

The priority and responsibility of National Records of Scotland (NRS) is to put in place a census that enables everyone across Scotland to participate, so that information collected can be used to produce the high quality outputs and deliver the benefits required by the people of Scotland.

Ensuring that all of Scotland can take part in the census is vital. Moving the date of the census to March 2022 provides the best opportunity to do that and ensure a high response rate. A high response rate will mean that the data gathered is of the quality necessary to enable it to be confidently used to inform funding decisions, policy and planning at all levels.

There are existing measures to meet the needs of data users between censuses. NRS will work closely with the Office of National Statistics and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency to minimise the impact on UK data coherence to ensure that high quality data is available to inform policy, investment decisions and the planning of services that affect Scotland and the rest of the UK. NRS will also continue to work with stakeholders and partners to support the needs of data users for the period until the results from Scotland’s Census are available.

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