The ethnicity question for the 1991 Census: Background and issues

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Abstract
The Government announced on 13 November 1989 that an ethnicity question would be asked in the 1991 Census. The decision was taken following the favourable public response to the fielding of a new form of ethnicity question in the large‐scale Census Test carried out in April 1989. The question asks the respondent to tick one box from among the following categories: White, Black‐Caribbean, Black‐African, Black‐Other (with description), Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese, Any other ethnic group (with description). The 1991 Census will be the first British census to include an ethnicity question, though not the first for which such a question was proposed. The 1981 Census was to have had a question on race/ethnic group but the proposal was dropped following the unsuccessful trial of a question in the 1979 Census Test in Haringey. The absence of an ethnic‐group question from the 1981 Census was a cause of concern to many connected with race relations and was extensively discussed following the decision to omit the question. An inquiry into the inclusion of an ethnicity question in the census was held by the Home Affairs Committee Sub‐Committee on Race Relations and Immigration. The Sub‐Committee's final report was published in 1983 and, together with the memoranda and verbal evidence presented to the Committee, gives a very full account of the issues in this area.
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