• 25 November 2013, 13:30 – 14:30
  • Room N, Portcullis House
  • Contact: postevents@parliament.uk, 02072198973
  • This event is open to Members of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and parliamentary staff.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is currently holding a public consultation on the best approach to running the census in the future. Data from the census are used by policy makers, planners and researchers across the public and private sectors. However, our population is changing rapidly and the ONS ‘Beyond 2011’ programme is reviewing different ways of collecting population statistics.

This meeting provided an overview of the options presented in the consultation and an opportunity to discuss the issues with leading external experts. POST was delighted to collaborate on this event with the House of Commons Library, the Royal Statistical Society, the All Party Parliamentary Group on Statistics and the Office for National Statistics.

This event was open only to MPs, Peers and their staff. The seminar was chaired by Andrew Miller MP and attendees heard from the following speakers before the discussion began:

  • Pete Benton, Office for National Statistics – presentation
  • Professor David Martin Professor of Geography at Southampton University, Deputy Director of the Economic and Social Research Council UK Data Service and member of the Beyond 2011 independent Working Group
  • Professor Chris Skinner Professor of Statistics and Head of Statistics Department, London School of Economics and lead author of the independent review of the methodology of the Beyond 2011 Programme
  • Piers Elias Demography and Modelling Officer, Tees Valley Unlimited and co-Chair of the Local Authority Population Statistics Liaison Group

A summary of the event and the flyer can be downloaded from these links