This is an extract from an email posted in a message to the
Glamorgan RootsWeb List:
The message and its subsequent replies are available for all to view at:
http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/GLAMORGAN/2005-11/1132341388Thank you for your enquiry regarding the 1911 Census. We have treated
your enquiry as a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
More information on the Act is available on The National Archives website
at the following location:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/foi/default.htm The 1911 Census itself contains some 35,000 volumes of schedules and
38,000 enumeration books. The National Archives' Conservation
department carried out a survey of the 1911 Census. Statistically significant
samples of the records were inspected to produce a conservation report
on the condition of the Census schedules. Skilled TNA staff directly
supervised by the Preservation Manager did this work. The assessment
followed the guidelines published in Eden et al. (1998): A Model for
Assessing Preservation Needs in Libraries. British Library Research and
Innovation Report 125. Although creases or folds were estimated to occur in
nearly 50% of records, this would not materially affect the legibility
or scanning, and the data used to estimate scanning costs and timescales
include this routine preparation work. A much smaller percentage, about
5% of the Census schedules, will require more extensive conservation
work to be scanned safely. All of these records are stored in good
environmental conditions in the Kew repositories and whilst you do
not necessarily need the TNA official line on the smell issue, the
Preservation Manager assures me that the 1911 Census does not smell. It has
also recently been confirmed by the Preservation Manager that the
accompanying enumerators' summary books are in very good condition.
The 1911 census form included the following emphatic assurance to
Householders:
"The contents of the Schedule will be treated as confidential.
Strict Care will be taken that no information is disclosed with regard to
individual persons. The returns are not to be used for proof of age, as
in connection with Old Age Pensions, or for any other purpose than the
Preparation of Statistical Tables."
In 1966 the Lord Chancellor determined that all decennial census
returns should be closed for a period of 100 years, on the grounds that they
contained personal information supplied by citizens about themselves,
the disclosure of which would constitute a breach of good faith. Since
1966 successive Governments have consistently maintained this position,
and from 1981 onwards there has been an explicit assurance on census
forms that they will remain closed to the public for 100 years.
In a debate in the House of Commons held on 29 March 2004, the Minister
at the Department of Constitutional Affairs reaffirmed that, in the
Government's view, a closure period of 100 years strikes the right
balance between the access interests of family historians and the right of
citizens to have the personal information about themselves in their
census returns kept confidential. As he explained, "the Government
believe that maintaining the security and confidentiality of the
information that citizens supply about themselves in their census returns is of
paramount importance. It is strongly in the national interest that
public confidence in these confidentiality assurances is maintained".
Now that the FOI Act has taken effect, the National Archives will be
mindful of this most recent restatement of government policy when it
considers requests for access to information contained in the 1911 census
returns, in consultation with the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
as the transferring department. Consultations have taken place on the
specific enquiries received to date, and it has not been possible to
release the information that has been sought on the grounds that the
exemption (section 41) relating to information provided in confidence
applies.
Censuses from 1921 onwards were taken under the provisions of the
Census Act 1920. This legislation prohibits the release of personal
information by the Registrar-General, those under his control or those
supplying services to him without lawful authority. The census returns from
1921 onwards which are in the custody of the Registrar-General for
England and Wales are, as a consequence, exempt information under Section 44
of the FOI Act relating to information prohibited from disclosure by or
under any enactment.
I hope that this information will reassure you that The National
Archives are taking every measures to preserve and protect these documents so
that they will be available for release in 2012, in line with
Government policy on this matter, and that they will be subsequently enjoyed by
future generations of historians and genealogists, such as yourself. If
you are not satisfied with any part of our reply to your request for
information [and/or] you want to appeal or make a complaint, please
follow the online guide to our complaints procedure at
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/contact/complaints.htmYours sincerely
Jacqui Shepherd
Freedom of Information Officer
