Census (Amendment) Act 2000

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Census (Amendment) Act 2000
Act of Parliament
Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (variant 1, 1952-2022).svg
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title An Act to amend the Census Act 1920 to enable particulars to be required in respect of religion.
Citation 2000 c. 24
Introduced by Jonathan Sayeed [1] (Commons)
Lord Weatherill (Lords)
Territorial extent  England and Wales
Dates
Royal assent 28 July 2000 [2]
Other legislation
Amends Census Act 1920
Relates to
Status: Current legislation
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended
Census (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2000
Act of the Scottish Parliament
Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom in Scotland (Variant 1).svg
Scottish Parliament
Long title An Act of the Scottish Parliament to amend the Census Act 1920 to enable particulars about religion to be gathered.
Citation 2000 asp 3
Introduced by Jim Wallace [3]
Territorial extent Flag of Scotland.svg  Scotland
Dates
Royal assent 10 April 2000 [4]
Other legislation
Amends Census Act 1920
Relates to
Status: Current legislation
History of passage through the Parliament
Text of statute as originally enacted
Text of the Census (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2000 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.

The Census (Amendment) Act 2000 (c. 24) and Census (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2000 (asp 3) are acts of the Parliaments of the United Kingdom and Scotland, respectively. They introduced a question on the religion of respondents to the censuses of Great Britain.

Contents

Motivation

The inclusion of a question on religion was recommended in a white paper of March 1999. [2] Parliament has indicated that inclusion of a question on religion was to provide useful demographics information for six key areas, namely "discrimination and racial disadvantage, social exclusion, health and community care planning, religious education in schools, regeneration of the inner cities, and helping voluntary sector religious groups". [1]

Legislation

England and Wales

The Census (Amendment) Act 2000 was passed as a private member's bill in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. [5] The purpose was to provide for the asking of a question on religion in the census of England and Wales. Amendments were made to the original bill by the House of Lords so that no person was to be subject to a penalty for refusing or neglecting to provide details in response to such a question. [6] [7]

Scotland

The Scottish Executive brought forward similar legislation, the Census (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2000. The bill was originally introduced by Jim Wallace and passed through the Parliament, receiving royal assent on 10 April 2000. [4] [8] which introduced similar provisions for the inclusion of a question on religion in the census of Scotland. The Scottish act also provided that a person would not be penalised for failing or refusing to declare a religion on the census. [9]

Northern Ireland

A similar amendment to census legislation was not required in Northern Ireland, as the Census Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 already included provisions for the taking of particulars of religion. [6] All censuses in Ireland have included a question on religion since 1861. [10]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "2000 Census Act". parliament.uk. Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  2. 1 2 "The Census (Amendment) Act 2000". ons.gov.uk. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  3. ↑ "Census (Amendment) (Scotland) Bill [AS INTRODUCED]" (PDF). parliament.scot. The Scottish Parliament. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  4. 1 2 "Session 1 Bills". parliament.scot. The Scottish Parliament. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  5. ↑ "Census to ask people about religious beliefs". The Guardian. 11 January 2000. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  6. 1 2 "2001 CENSUS ADVISORY GROUP PAPER (00)15: LEGISLATION UPDATE" (PDF). ons.gov.uk. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  7. ↑ "CENSUS BILL PROGRESSES, BUT DOUBTS RAISED OVER QUESTION ON RELIGION". Local Government Chronicle. 28 January 2000. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  8. ↑ "Census amendment introduced". The Herald. 1 March 2000. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  9. ↑ Lyall, Francic (2016). Church and State in Scotland: Developing Law. Routledge. p. 217. ISBN   9781409450641.
  10. ↑ "Census 2001: Frequently Asked Questions" (PDF). nisra.gov.uk. Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency. p. 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 January 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
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