March 13, 2021 - 1702 views
The man responsible for awareness of the forthcoming Census in Conwy county is reaching out to voluntary groups and organisations for help in encouraging participation from as many people in the community as possible.
Darren Thomas who is the Census Engagement Manager for North West Wales is working with the Office of National Statistics (ONS) to help deliver the Census in March. The census is a survey that takes place every 10 years and asks questions about you, your household and your home.
In doing so, it helps to build a detailed snapshot of our society. Information from the census helps the government and local authorities to plan and fund local services.
Darren said; "The census is important to all of us. The information it collects helps plan services like schools, doctors’ surgeries and libraries. My work is centred on building relationships and engaging with local communities to ensure everyone can participate in the census and be counted.
"An important part of my role is to develop relationships with partner organisations that deliver services to sections of communities that may be considered hard to reach. The purpose being to maximise participation across under represented and hard to reach communities in North West Wales.
"Initial desktop research combined with ONS data has identified various groups in the area as potentially facing extra barriers that may impact on their ability to take part in the census in March 2021.
"I want to ensure that ONS targets specific groups with census information and information in order to maximise participation among these groups. As the 2021 Census is digital first, I am keen to ensure that we engage with people with low digital resilience, such as low income households, people over 65 and other people with other barriers that may prevent participation, offering a paper questionnaire where necessary.
"In addition to this it will be useful to receive your feedback on any barriers or additional resource needs that may affect the number of participants within the hard to count groups across North West Wales."
Organisations who work with under represented groups or individuals who may struggle to take part in the Census by not being online for example, are invited to contact Darren directly on 07452 934356 or by emailing Darren.thomas06@field.census.gov.uk.
Darren added; "I am happy for organisations to contact me directly if they require any further information, or a Zoom meeting to brief staff, volunteers and service users about Census 2021- These can be done in either Welsh or English or bilingually."
In terms of Social Media, the @census2021 and @cyfrifiad2021 accounts are currently posting on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, containing interesting facts and important information about the Census.
