Agenda item

Naveed Mohammed, Scrutiny Officer, outlined a report providing an update on the delivery of the Census 2011 project in Slough.  The Officer discussed the delivery of the project and operational phase 2.  Feedback to date suggested that the response rate across Slough had been universally better than in 2001.  The Committee noted the importance of the quality assurance phase and that there was no formal deadline for the submission of information and data.  Slough would therefore continue to submit data on an as and when basis and this would be helpful where there was new evidence on sheds and HMO’s.  The Officer discussed the overall impact of the 2011 census project, and the key lessons learnt.

The Officer concluded that so far the project appeared to have been a success in increasing the response rate and the investment in the quality assurance process should reinforce a higher population figure.

The Committee discussed a number of areas of concern including the statistics for the Colnbrook with Poyle area, the lack of permanent translation services in the town, and the number of HMO’s in the town.  The Chief Executive emphasised that the changed to boundaries in 2004 would be based on the numbers registered on the electoral role and not on the population statistics gathered through the census. 

Resolved-

(a)  That the report be noted.

(b)  That the ONS be requested to attend the next meeting of the Committee on 12^th July, 2011 to discuss a number of issues including data quality, quality assurance and the continuing gap.