Scrapping Britain's National Census would be a disaster

Francis Maude says it's expensive and inaccurate. Wrong on both counts, says Michael Harloe

census.jpg
(Image credit: 2011 Getty Images)

THE coalition government has already secured its legacy in a torrent of cuts to public services. But it hopes to do more. It also wants to do away with the largest evidence base that is available to inform its decision-making – the 200-year-old National Census.

The census is the backbone of UK social science. Directly and indirectly, it underpins vast amounts of research, resource allocation and policymaking. The proposal to scrap it has caused an outcry among academics, learned societies and some parliamentarians.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
TheConversation.com is a not-for-profit independent publication which sources articles from the academic and research community. The articles appearing here have been republished with the permission of TheConversation.com.