More than half of census forms have been returned so far, with a minister saying the response is “exceptionally good” given the timeframe.
As of 9:30am on April 30, a total of 45,204 activation codes had been issued to households, with 26,070 online returns received, David Ashford confirmed in Keys.
Paper returns stood at just 607, though the minister noted that 1,612 paper forms had been requested.
Jason Moorhouse asked whether there was concern that the return rate was only “just over halfway” and what processes were in place to secure missing returns.
Letters
Mr Ashford confirmed that reminder letters are being sent, followed by “the deployment of field officers to properties that haven’t responded in order to get a response”.
He explained that previous censuses are not used to identify missing households because “doing so would risk missing any demographic change that may have altered the non response profile”.
On the low number of paper returns, the minister reiterated that forms are issued on a request-only basis, adding: “There is not just generic forms put out in the community, because it can lead to problems with the census of people picking them up, duplicate forms being put in.”
Mr Ashford told members: “The response to the census so far, bearing in mind we are only nine days on from census night, is exceptionally good.”