A Census is a complex and costly undertaking and one that is only undertaken when it has been clearly shown that there is a need for it. Planning the Census is inevitably a long process, requiring many phases and it is vital that consultation takes place with a wide range of census users to determine their needs for data. This paper sets out the strategy adopted in the United Kingdom for ascertaining users' needs for information to be collected in the Census, focusing on topics and output geography, and assesses this against the scope and design of consultations as set out in the Conference of European Statisticians (CES) Recommendations for the 2010 round of European censuses. The paper concludes by noting the key decisions in the design of the 2011 Census that have been made following user consultation to date.

Paper presented at the joint UNECE/Eurostat meeting on Population and Housing Censuses, Geneva, 28-30 October 2009.