NICOLA Sturgeon has said outside experts will check if Scotland’s troubled £150million census was a “credible” exercise and lessons will be learned from it.

The First Minister made the promise as it emerged the completion level is still significantly off-target with less two weeks until the latest deadline.

The latest figures showed around 435,000 households were yet to finish the once-in-a-decade survey which must be completed by May 31.

Households face fines of up to £1000 if they fail to fill in a form online or on paper.

The National Records for Scotland says its target is for 94.2% of households to comply, but as of May 18, the completion rate was 83.4%, up just 3.4% since the start of the month. 

The completion rate in England and Wales was a record 97%.

In a bid to pick up Scottish stragglers, officials are to visit households to offer help on the doorstep.

Public drop-in events are also being held across the country this weekend.

The census was held in 2021 in the rest of Britain, but delayed by a year in Scotland.

It was supposed to have been finished by May 1, but SNP constitution secretary Angus Robertson was forced to delay it by a month after a poor response rate. 

Amid fears of a sub-90% response rate, Labour MSP Sarah Boyack asked Ms Sturgeon at FMQs for a public inquiry into the problems and the “millions wasted”.

The First Minister said she and Mr Robertson received daily updates on the census return level, and said there would be “no let-up over the remainder of the month”.

She said: “After that date has passed, we will need to consider a number of things, a couple of which I will mention today.

“First, as is the case with all censuses, work will be done to ensure that the exercise has been a credible one and that the information that was gathered is reliable. 

“It will be appropriate to take expert advice on that.

“Secondly, as we would with any exercise of this nature, work will be done to ensure that all appropriate lessons are learned, and we will do that in the best possible way.”

Four public census help events will be held across greater Glasgow area at supermarkets, universities and colleges to help people meet the end of May deadline this weekend. 

Census teams will also visit faith centres in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Tayside, with further events planned for the following weekend in the Glasgow area and in North Ayrshire.

Mr Robertson said: “It’s great that we are seeing a steady increase in census response rates right across Scotland, but it is vital that we secure as high a response rate as possible so that the census can be effective in delivering its many benefits for future public services. 

“Census data informs how and where public money is spent on vital services, from the building of new schools and hospitals to improving transport links and understanding health needs.

“There will be more support available this weekend as we continue to engage with households and communities across the country. I would encourage anyone that hasn’t completed their census to take advantage of this help and fill it in before it is too late.

“Information and guidance is also available online at census.gov.scot, and you can speak to an agent on our free helpline 0800 030 8308 if you have specific questions or need a paper questionnaire. Language interpretation is also available via our helpline and the census form is also available on paper with guidance available in Braille, large print and audio.”

Designed to help design and improve public services, the 2022 census asks questions on the types of accommodation people stay in, household relationships, age, sex, health and employment status. 

New questions this year include use of British Sign Language, passports held, armed forces history and new voluntary questions on sexual orientation and trans status.

Census letters have been issued to more than 2.7m households representing 5.5m people.

A census of the population has been taken every 10 years in Scotland since 1801, with the exception of 1941, because of World War Two.

 

This weekend’s community events will take place at:

Friday 20th University of Strathclyde Union 1530 - 1800

Saturday 21st Asda Govan 0900 – 1700

Sunday 22nd Asda Toryglen 0900 – 1700

Monday 23rd New College Lanarkshire 0900 – 1300