I received an email from the Office for National Statistics on Thursday to
say that the Summary of the Results of the recent 2021 Census Topic
Consultation had been published. From the total of 1,095 responses
received, 592 were identified as being from Genealogists which is an
extremely high proportion, 54% of the total respondents. Section 4 of the
report is entitled “Genealogists’ responses” which contains the following
paragraph:
“Place of birth
One of the main themes in the genealogist response was the request for
inclusion of place of birth as
a new sub‐topic for the 2021 Census. Place of birth was last collected in
the 1951 Census. Overall
485 requests for place of birth were received from genealogists (with a
further 7 requests from other users). The inclusion of place of birth is
requested by genealogists to enable them to more easily identify the correct
family member.”
I was highly delighted to see this paragraph as this was the issue that we
in the Gwynedd Family History Society had put forward. The fact that 492
(45%) of all the 1,095 respondents made the same point is remarkable. I
very much hope that the campaign that our Society conducted helped to
achieve this wonderful result. I give more information on my Blog,
http://hywelfamilyhistory.com.
The report gives the outcomes of the consultation. The ONS is now
considering its response to the consultation outcomes. They say that they
will publish their conclusions during 2016.
Hywel Roberts