NLGN: 'Involve councils in census'

Under-counting claimed

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The New Local Government Network (NLGN) wants local councils to be given a new role in collecting population statistics, arguing that £500m of public money could be wasted on the next census.

A report from the thinktank argues the information gathered will be out of date by the time it is published, will be insufficiently detailed and could underestimate the number of people living in Britain.

NLGN says the survey, which is conducted every ten years and due to occur next in 2011, cannot accurately reflect the true state of Britain because of poor quality information on households, high rates of population mobility and a growing reluctance to fill in official forms.

Figures based on the census are used to allocate £100bn of Government spending for local authorities and Primary Care Trusts.

The report quotes the Centre for Economics and Business Research in saying the 2001 census undercounted the population by 900,000, and local authority areas have seen their population put at 10% less than their actual numbers.

NLGN proposes that Britain should follow the example of other European countries, such as the Netherlands, who have moved to a reliance on administrative databases to provide a continually updated 'rolling' register.

The research indicates that distrust of census statistics has already led some councils to develop their own population data from existing resources including GP address records, the electoral roll and geo-referencing systems.

If Britain were to move to NLGN's proposed alternative, the report suggests, there would be significant savings on the current £500m cost of the census.

NLGN argues that the new system could save at least £250m, which could be better spent by giving each top-tier council £1.5m for targeted engagement and communication with vulnerable and disengaged sections of the community.