Asked by: Lord Lea of Crondall (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to make changes in the 2021 Census to the questions on (1) religion, and (2) ethnicity, used in the 2011 Census of England and Wales; and if so, what any such changes are.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Census (England) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/560) set out the questions for Census 2021 in England and include facsimiles of the paper questionnaires. The religion question is the same as that asked in the 2011 Census. For the ethnic group question, two substantive changes to the question used in 2011 have been made:
a new tick-box response option for ‘Roma’
a write-in option for those selecting ‘African background’ within the ‘Black, Black British, Caribbean or African’ high-level category.
People can still declare another religion or ethnicity, even if it is not a tick-box response option.
The parallel Census (Wales) Regulations 2020 were made by Welsh Ministers and laid before the Welsh Parliament.
Asked by: Lord Lea of Crondall (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the proportion of people who responded to the questions on ethnicity in the 2011 Census of England and Wales by identifying as Arab when considering recommending appointments to the House of Lords.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The information requested is not centrally held. The House of Lords Appointments Commission is an independent and advisory non-departmental public body.
Asked by: Lord Lea of Crondall (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the legal costs (1) incurred to date, and (2) likely to be incurred, in relation to the Grenfell Tower fire inquiry; and how much of those costs will be met by the public purse.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The Prime Minister has made clear that survivors, families of victims and local residents affected by the Grenfell Tower tragedy will have government funding for legal representation. The Prime Minister’s notice of determination to the Inquiry, published on 22 August confirms this. The Inquiry will publish details of legal costs in due course.