19 th July 2010
Jersey Census 2011:
Lodging of the Census Regulations
1. Introduction
1.1 The Chief Minister is asked to give consideration to lodging the attached Regulations for the 2011 Jersey Census.
2. Background
2.1 The next Census of the population will be held in Jersey on 27th March 2011.
2.2 Article 2 of the Census (Jersey) Law 1951 specifies that the States of Jersey has:
“Power to make Regulations directing the taking of a census and prescribing procedure in relation thereto”.
2.3 Paragraph (2) of the Law states that
“Any such regulations may be repealed, amended or varied by subsequent Regulations”.
2.4 The States of Jersey (Transfer of Functions No. 3) (Home Affairs to Chief Minister) (Jersey) Regulations 201- was approved by the States Assembly on 23 March 2010, whereby responsibility for the Jersey Census was transferred from the Home Affairs Minister to the Chief Minister. Subsequently the Chief Minister appointed the Head Statistician of the States of Jersey Statistics Unit as Census Officer for the 2011 Census.
2.5 In order to progress the Census Regulations for debate by the States Assembly, since the appointment of the Head Statistician as Census Officer, the Statistics Unit has since been developing the methodology of the census process and content of the census form. Two workshops for States Members relating to form content were held in March 2010; meetings with officers of States Departments were held throughout the period April to June 2010.
2.3 Following the guidelines contained within the Census (Jersey) Law 1951, the Census Regulations for the 2011 Jersey Census specify:
o of whom the Census will be conducted;
o imposes obligations on census officers and on persons in respect of whom the census is taken; and
o the contents of the Census form; and
o the process by which the Census will be conducted;
3. Timing:
3.1 In order that the Census Regulations be debated by the States Assembly at the start of the Second Session of 2010, it is proposed that the Census Regulations be lodged with the States Assembly.
4. Recommendations:
4.1 It is recommended that the Chief Minister sign a Ministerial Decision to lodge the attached “Census (Jersey) Regulations 201-”.
5. Financial, manpower and human rights implications
5.1 The budget for the 2011 Jersey Census is £500,000.
5.2 Up to 200 temporary short-term staff will be employed to undertake the 2011 Census. These will be comprised largely of enumerators (fieldworkers) employed for a period of approximately two months. There will also be specialised enumerators, whose focus will be to ensure a high return rate, and data coding and data entry staff employed for a period of several months.
5.3 The Census Regulations are compatible with the Human Rights (Jersey) Law 2000.
Duncan Gibaut
Head Statistician, Statistics Unit
19 th July 2010