The 2007 Census Test: a major step towards the 2011 Census

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is planning a major Census field test in 2007. It will form part of the planning and testing programme leading to up the next Census of Population for England and Wales in 2011, which will also include a Rehearsal in 2009. The 2007 Test will be a large-scale test in five local authority (LA) areas selected to reflect a range of field conditions, covering some 100,000 households in total. Within England the Test will cover parts of Bath and North East Somerset, Camden, Liverpool and Stoke-on-Trent. In Wales the Test will take place in Carmarthenshire. The selected LAs have been chosen to provide a varied cross-section of the population and types of housing that would be covered in a full census. This article sets out the main aims for the Test and describes the design and location of the sampled areas and the basis for their selection. It goes on to detail the ways (previously reported in Population Trend 1251) in which the ONS Census team and the LAs involved are working in partnership in planning the census enumeration with the long-term view of improving overall census coverage and user confidence in the results. The article notes that decisions on the topics to be covered in the 2007 Test have only recently been decided, and concludes with an overview of the qustions to be included in the 2007 Test questionnaire.