Ethnicity* White Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups Asian/Asian British Black/African/Caribbean/Black British In this section Introduction to collecting data on ethnic group, religion and national identity Key legislation Different aspects of ethnicity Ethnic group National identity Religion 1.Introduction to collecting data on ethnic group, religion and national identity Collecting data on ethnic group, religion and national identity can be complex because of the subjective and multifaceted nature of the concepts. Membership to each of the concepts is something that is self-defined and subjectively meaningful to an individual. However these concepts are measured, in particular, ethnic group and national identity, they tend to evolve in the context of social and political attitudes or developments. This guidance replaces “Ethnic group statistics: a guide for the collection and classification of ethnicity data (2003)”. Its content is based on the recently published GSS harmonised standards on ethnic group, national identity and religion, which recommend a harmonised approach in the data collection process to allow consistency and comparability of statistical outputs across GB and the UK. It begins by looking at the development of the recommended harmonised country-specific questions for use on surveys in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and highlights issues surrounding the specific requirements for constituent countries. It provides advice on how to ask questions and present data on ethnic group, religion and national identity on social surveys in the UK and notes some of the complexities that should be considered when collecting and classifying data. The guidance also acknowledges that in some instances not all surveys will have the resources to ask the harmonised questions in different countries; where this does occur, guidance following the recommended country-specific options should be followed. It is hoped that this guidance will be a useful tool for those collecting data on ethnic group, national identity and religion. The guidance will be revised and updated when necessary, and if you have any queries or wish to feedback on its content, please email: equalitiesandwellbeing@ons.gov.uk Who is this guidance for? This guidance is to help those who would like to collect and present ethnic group, national identity and religion data from social surveys in the UK, for example, social researchers, public bodies, etc. Who should respond to the ethnic group, religion and national identity questions? Ethnic group, religion and national identity are self-identification measures reflecting how people define themselves. Therefore, a response to a question should be answered by the respondent directly, particularly if the respondent is an adult. It is sometimes possible to ask another member of the household to reply on behalf of a respondent, however, this should be used only as a last resort. Where this does occur, notes should be recorded to reflect this. It is also important that interviewers do not attempt to use their own judgements. The questions have been designed for use with adult respondents aged 16 or over. If the target population is below this age, guidance may be needed from the child’s parent, guardian or carer, particularly if the child is below the age of 12 as they may not understand what the question is asking. It is not recommended that categories are removed from the response options available to children as their choice should not be limited because of their age (or other factors). How were the harmonised ethnic group, national identity and religious affiliation questions developed? The ethnic group, national identity and religious affiliation questions were developed through a cross-government harmonisation project, undertaken through consultation and workshops with key stakeholders between 2008 and 2010 that included: Office for National Statistics Scottish Government and National Records of Scotland Welsh Government Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister/Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency Equality and Human Rights Commission Data Standards Working Group other government departments academics Why use the recommended harmonised questions? The questions should be used in order to achieve a harmonised approach in the data collection process that will allow for consistency and comparability of statistical outputs from different sources across the UK. Why are there different requirements for asking questions on surveys in Scotland? For Scotland, specific requirements came out of a review of the way Scottish surveys classified ethnicity. This followed recommendations made by the Race Equality Advisory Forum in 2001 and community concerns about the classification used in Scotland’s 2001 Census. The review conducted by the Scottish Government and National Reords of Scotland identified the benefits of developing a separate national identity and new ethnicity classification for use on the Scottish Census and relevant Scottish Official Statistics. Both questions used together would allow people to self-express their “Scottish-ness”, “British-ness” or any other national identity before expressing their ethnic group. The new ethnicity classification was published in July 2008, and details of the classification (including research, consultation and question-testing) can be found at the Scottish Government website. The classification was discussed by Members of the Scottish Parliament during considerations of the 2011 Census in Scotland and was subsequently amended for use in the Census. Details of the committee discussions can be seen in the Official Reports of the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee (9th and 12th meetings). There are also specific requirements for collecting data on religion in Scotland. This is done in order to provide data on which to measure or examine sectarianism, rather than looking at Christian and non-Christian. For further guidance on asking questions specifically for surveys in Scotland, please refer to the Scottish Government website. Why are there different requirements for asking questions in Northern Ireland? For Northern Ireland, specific requirements comply with the Good Friday Agreement (where it is not acceptable to ask respondents to choose between Northern Irish/British and Irish identities) and legislation under the Race Relations (NI) Order 1997, which outlaws discrimination on grounds of colour, race, nationality or ethnic or national origin. The Irish Traveller community is specifically identified in the Order as a racial group against which racial discrimination is unlawful. ‘Guidance for monitoring racial equality’ was published in July 2011 by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. There are also specific requirements for collecting data on religion in Northern Ireland. This is done in order to provide data on which to measure or examine sectarianism, rather than looking at Christian and non-Christian. What are the different modes of administration? The questions in this guidance are suitable for interviewer-led computer-assisted telephone interviewing, face-to-face and computer-assisted personal interviewing. The questions can also be used in self-completion modes of administration, e.g. paper-based, computer-assisted self-interviewing and internet. There are some variations in the way the questions need to be asked, depending on mode of administration. Back to table of contents 2.Key legislation This section provides a brief overview of the key legislation relating to ethnicity, national identity and religion. Equality Act 2010 The new Equality Act 2010 has brought together over 116 separate pieces of legislation into one single Act. It provides a new discrimination law with a legal framework that protects the rights of individuals from unfair treatment and pushes forward equality of opportunity for all. Equality Law applies regardless of: the size of the organisation the sector of work whether there is one worker or hundreds or thousands of workers whether or not the organisation uses formal processes or forms to help inform decisions Public sector equality duty The new public sector equality duty, which applies to all bodies carrying out public functions, came into force on 5 April 2011 and covers the 8 protected characteristics defined in the Equality Act, among which are race, religion and belief. The duty requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations in the course of developing policies and delivering services. Specific duties In addition, the Equality Act gives the government a power to impose specific duties on certain public bodies that set out steps they must undertake to enable them to better perform the public sector equality duty. Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act requires public authorities, in carrying out their functions relating to Northern Ireland, to have due regard to the need to promote equality of opportunity: between persons of different religious belief, political opinion, racial group, age, marital status or sexual orientation; between men and women generally; between persons with a disability and persons without; between persons with dependants and persons without. Without prejudice to these obligations, a public authority is also required, in carrying out its functions, to have regard to the desirability of promoting good relations between persons of different religious belief, political opinion or racial group. Policy and service delivery There is no express requirement under the public sector equality duty to collect monitoring information. However, in order to meet the duty, public bodies need to understand the impact of their work, and collecting monitoring information is likely to be an effective way of gathering sufficient information to enable them to do this. Under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act, public bodies must monitor for adverse impact of their policies and publish the results of this monitoring. Data Protection Acts Laws exist to protect the confidentiality of data about living individuals (“personal data”) and give individuals rights to privacy or to access information held about them by public authorities. These laws are: Data Protection Act 1998 Human Rights Act 1998 Freedom of Information Act 2000 The Data Protection Act is concerned with the fair and lawful processing of personal data. Information about an individual’s ethnic background and religion is classified as sensitive personal data. Sensitive data is recognised under European and domestic law, and the conditions for processing such data are listed in the Data Protection Act. What is express consent? Legally, express consent means that respondents have authorised their data to be processed for the purposes that they have been informed about. This will assist with compliance with the first principle of the Data Protection Act. If there are plans to share sensitive data, there is a responsibility to ensure that all parties processing the data are aware of the responsibilities and duties under the Data Protection Act, and that this is part of a formal data access agreement. Specific requirements for asking questions on a survey in Scotland Following the Race Equality Advisory Forum in 2001 and concerns by some communities in Scotland about the classifications used in the 2001 Census, the Scottish Government and the General Register Office for Scotland worked together to conduct a review. This review came with specific requirements for the ethnicity classification for Scotland, which was subsequently discussed by Members of the Scottish Parliament and amended for use on the Scottish 2011 Census. Specific requirements for asking questions on a survey in Northern Ireland For Northern Ireland, specific requirements comply with the Good Friday Agreement (where it is not acceptable to ask respondents to choose between Northern Irish/British and Irish identities) and legislation under the Race Relations (NI) Order 1997, which outlaws discrimination on grounds of colour, race, nationality or ethnic or national origin. The Irish Traveller community is specifically identified in the Order as a racial group against which racial discrimination is unlawful. Back to table of contents 3.Different aspects of ethnicity Since ethnicity is a multifaceted and changing phenomenon, various possible ways of measuring ethnic groups are available and have been used over time. These include country of birth, nationality, language spoken at home, skin colour (an aspect for consideration for some and not for others), national/geographical origin and religion. What seems to be generally accepted, however, is that ethnicity includes all these aspects, and others, in combination. Country of birth For many years, the only ethnicity statistics regularly available in the UK were based on people’s country of birth. This has limited reliability and has become increasingly less relevant when used on its own as the proportion of ethnic minority individuals born in the UK has increased and also because it includes children born abroad to British-born parents. Nationality Some host countries use nationality as their primary criterion, implying that migrants renounce their ethnicity once they have qualified for citizenship. However, it is clear that many of the disadvantages and other experiences associated with ethnic minority status continue long after naturalisation has been completed. Language spoken at home For some minority ethnic groups, language spoken at home may be an effective way of defining ethnicity. Such a question has been commonly asked in large national surveys of minority ethnic groups, not only to identify members of the minority but also to permit the matching of interviewer with respondent in cases where the interview is conducted in the indigenous language. But, as time goes on, this measure is becoming increasingly less useful: with the emergence of the second and third generations, young families may use English as their main language, even though they still identify with particular minority ethnic groups. Skin colour Skin colour is an option for considering ethnic group. However, it’s not an adequate criterion in its own right, and for some, its use is seen as unacceptable. National/geographical origin A question may include aspects of national or geographical origin, with the assumption that these help to identify ethnic groups. For example, the terms West Indian or Indian are taken as shorthand terms for members of ethnic groups originating in those parts of the world. A further development has been to combine national or geographical origin with a colour term such as Black, as in Black-African, to identify more precisely which group is being referred to for people originating from a part of the world which is itself multi-ethnic, such as sub-Saharan Africa. Religion One of the important defining characteristics for some ethnic minorities is their religion. Some commentators think that the religious dimension should be recognised more explicitly. Back to table of contents 4.Ethnic group Collecting data on ethnic group is complex because of the subjective, multifaceted and changing nature of ethnic identification. There is no consensus on what constitutes an ethnic group and membership is something that is self-defined and subjectively meaningful to the person concerned. The terminology used to describe ethnic groups has changed markedly over time, and however defined or measured, tends to evolve in the context of social and political attitudes or developments. Ethnic group is also very diverse, encompassing common ancestry and elements of culture, identity, religion, language and physical appearance. This guidance highlights some of the complexities that need to be considered when collecting and classifying data on ethnic group. In the main, it provides advice on how to ask questions on ethnic group and how to present data from surveys using the recommended harmonised country-specific questions for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The are some differences in the questions because of the requirements of the constituent countries, and where this has implications for producing GB and UK outputs, these issues are highlighted. It is recognised that not all GB- or UK-wide surveys will have the resources required to ask different questions in different countries. In these rare situations, it is recommended that the England and Wales question be used in Scotland. When this choice is made, a full UK and GB output can be produced. What is the recommended harmonised ethnic group question to use on surveys? The recommended ethnic group question for use on surveys came out of a 2-year cross-government consultation programme that wanted to harmonise data collection to enable consistency and comparability of data. It is recommended that the following question be used: “What is your ethnic group?” What is a "self-identification" measure of ethnic group? In a survey, respondents are invited to select, from a list of categories, the ethnic group to which they consider they belong. There appear to be 2 factors determining the ethnic group that is recorded for each respondent: their own choice of how they view their own ethnicity the list of options are presented to them The first consideration is the most straightforward; the ethnic group that each person chooses as his or her own is intrinsically the ethnic group of self-identity, rather than being ascribed by anyone else. The second consideration is apparently not so clear-cut. The ethnic group options presented to the respondent are not completely ones of self-identity, since the respondent is likely to have had no say in the names or the number of the different alternative ethnic groups presented to them. Therefore, the freedom the respondent has to select their own group is constrained and influenced by the options presented to them. Why have categories? A category is used to assign data reported or measured for a particular situation according to shared characteristics. We use them to ensure consistent description and comparison of statistics. In practice, they are a set of “boxes” into which items can be put in order to get some kind of meaning. Categories allow us, in an accurate and systematic way, to arrange our data according to common features, so that the resulting statistics can be easily reproduced and are able to be compared over time and between different sources. Why are there differences in the ethnic group response categories? When collecting GB or UK data, the format of the question will vary slightly, depending on whether data is being collected in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Each of the constituent countries has different requirements that have led in some instances to the use of different terminology and different questions. Therefore, if producing outputs for surveys with GB or UK coverage and using the Scotland harmonised country-specific questions, response categories can only be aggregated and presented at the main-level category (because of the variations in the questions being asked). What are the differences in the ethnic group response categories? The main differences in the ethnic group response categories are: White categories (excluding Traveller categories): Scotland separates Scottish from Other British and includes separate Irish and Polish categories; England and Wales combine UK and British categories but include a separate Irish category; Northern Ireland has 1 White category Traveller categories: in Northern Ireland, Irish Traveller is a main category separate from White; Scotland has a Gypsy/Traveller category and England and Wales have a Gypsy or Irish Traveller category Mixed Multiple ethnic groups: there is no category breakdown for the country-specific question in Scotland; there are no suggested categories as opposed to the other countries, where there are options there are some differences in the terminology and data collection of the country-specific Scotland question that make these categories difficult to compare: the African category in the Scottish question is presented in a separate section to the Caribbean or Black category; however, under the harmonised output, these 2 categories are output as part of “Black/African/Caribbean/Black British”– the African categories used in Scotland could potentially capture White/Asian/Other African in addition to Black identities What are the implications for a GB and UK output when using the country-specific questions? When collecting GB or UK data, the format of the question will vary slightly depending on whether the data is being collected in England, Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland. Since each of the constituent countries has different requirements, the use of different terminology and different questions is unavoidable to ensure that data from surveys is comparable with that from their censuses. Therefore, if producing outputs for surveys with GB or UK coverage and using the Scotland harmonised country-specific questions, response categories should be aggregated and presented at the main-level category, and it will be necessary to explain differences in footnotes (see data presentation for details). What instruction should be used when asking the ethnic group question in a face-to-face interviewer-led survey and self-completion survey? It is recommended that the ethnic group question will be asked in a way that allows the respondent to see all possible response options before making their decision. Therefore, in face-to-face interviewer-led surveys, a single show card should be used that presents all response options. The interviewer should then ask the respondent to select the option that best describes their ethnic group or background. Similarly, a self-completion survey (e.g. paper-based) should use a single question. The instruction “please describe” should follow the “Other” response options. This should be in non-bold font. These instructions should also be included on paper-based surveys. What is the recommended ethnic group question for use on a survey in England? Below is the recommended country-specific ethnic group question for use in England. This question is recommended when a show card is used in a face-to-face interview or self-completion survey (both paper and electronic). Applies to all Interviewer to read: What is your ethnic group? Choose one option that best describes your ethnic group or background White 1. English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British 2. Irish 3. Gypsy or Irish Traveller 4. Any other White background, please describe Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups 5. White and Black Caribbean 6. White and Black African 7. White and Asian 8. Any other Mixed/Multiple ethnic background, please describe Asian/Asian British 9. Indian 10. Pakistani 11. Bangladeshi 12. Chinese 13. Any other Asian background, please describe Black/ African/Caribbean/Black British 14. African 15. Caribbean 16. Any other Black/African/Caribbean background, please describe Other ethnic group 17. Arab 18. Any other ethnic group, please describe What is the recommended ethnic group question for use on a survey in Wales? Below is the recommended country-specific ethnic group question for use in Wales. This question is recommended when a show card is used in a face-to-face interview or self-completion survey (both paper and electronic). Applies to all Interviewer to read: What is your ethnic group? Choose one option that best describes your ethnic group or background White 1. Welsh/English/Scottish/Northern Irish/British 2. Irish 3. Gypsy or Irish Traveller 4. Any other White background, please describe Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups 5. White and Black Caribbean 6. White and Black African 7. White and Asian 8. Any other Mixed/Multiple ethnic background, please describe Asian/Asian British 9. Indian 10. Pakistani 11. Bangladeshi 12. Chinese 13. Any other Asian background, please describe Black/African/Caribbean/Black British 14. African 15. Caribbean 16. Any other Black/African/Caribbean background, please describe Other ethnic group
Choose one option that best describes your ethnic group or background
