The Office for National Statistics (ONS) must undertake further investigations into evidence that the 2021 census ‘significantly overestimated’ the transgender population, the statistics regulator has said.
In April, the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) launched an investigation into the census following concerns the question on gender identity may have confused respondents whose main language was not English.
In an interim report, the regulator has now said if there is evidence of a “significant misestimation of the transgender population”, the ONS must set out the implications for analysis and future data collection.
‘Contested area’
The OSR stated: “Given that this is a contested area, with little data available for triangulation, it would be reasonable for users to have expected clearer messaging on the impacts on quality and uncertainty.
“This gained added importance when users raised challenges and offered alternative hypotheses to explain the data. In this context ONS now needs to undertake further analysis and be clear on what can and cannot be concluded from the data.”
In response to the recommendations, ONS Deputy National Statistician Emma Rourke said it will “set out our plans detailing what we are exploring, what it might show and when the results of our research will be published. We will set out this plan within the next four weeks.”
Made up sex
Last year, a helpline agent for the Scottish Census told a parent to enter what they felt was the ‘best fit’ for their toddler’s sex when filling in the household questionnaire.
Guidance had stated that people completing the census on someone else’s behalf could choose which sex to record, regardless of the sex registered on their birth certificate or on a gender recognition certificate.
On social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Scotsman columnist Susan Dalgety said: “What kind of government allows parents to ‘choose’ the sex of their child for census purposes, regardless of reality.”
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