Other ethnic group (United Kingdom Census)

The classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom has attracted controversy in the past. This was particularly the situation at the time of the 2001 Census, where the existence and nature of such a classification, which appeared on the Census form, became more widely known than general. Different classifications, both formal and informal, are used in Britain.

National statistics

Self-definition

The ethnicity data used in UK national statistics relies on individuals' self-definition. The Office for National Statistics explain this as follows:

Is a person's ethnic group self-defined?

Yes. Membership of an ethnic group is something that is subjectively meaningful to the person concerned, and this is the principal basis for ethnic categorisation in the United Kingdom. So, in ethnic group questions, we are unable to base ethnic identification upon objective, quantifiable information as we would, say, for age or gender. And this means that we should rather ask people which group they see themselves as belonging to.^[1]

This self-defined categorization was also used for classifying ethnicity in the 2001 UK Census.^[2] Slightly different categories were employed in Scotland and Northern Ireland, as compared with England and Wales, "to reflect local differences in the requirement for information".^[3] However, the data collected still allow for comparison across the UK.^[3] Different classifications were used in the 1991 Census, which was the first to include a question on ethnicity.^[4][5]

Proposed changes to the 2011 Census regarding ethnicity

There were calls for the 2011 national census in England and Wales to include extra tick boxes so people could identify their ethnic group in category A as Welsh, English and Cornish^[6][7] The tick boxes at the time only included British, Irish or any other.

Some experts, community and special interest group respondents also pointed out that the 'Black African' category was too broad. They remarked that the category did not provide enough information on the considerable diversity that existed within the various populations currently classified under this heading. This concealed heterogeneity ultimately made the gathered data of limited use analytically. To remedy this, the Muslim Council of Britain proposed that this census category should be broken down instead into specific ethnic groups.^[8]

The National Association of British Arabs and other Arab organizations also lobbied for the inclusion of a separate "Arab" entry, which would include under-reported groups from the Arab world such as Syrians, Somalis, Yemenis and Maghrebis.^[9]

The specimen 2011 Census questions were published in 2009 and included new "Gypsy or Irish Traveller" and "Arab" categories.^[10]

Ethnicity categories

The following are the current ONS ethnicity codes based on the 2011 UK Census:^[11]

In addition to the above "tick-box" options, respondents can also make use of "write-in" or "please describe" options. To do this, they would have to select one of the "other" categories on the census form and write in their answer in the box provided. More details are available on the National Statistics website.^[12]

Police

The police services of the UK began to classify arrests in racial groups in 1975, but later replaced the race code with an Identity Code (IC) system.^[13]

• IC1 White person
• IC2 Mediterranean person
• IC3 African/Caribbean person
• IC4 Indian, Nepalese, Pakistani, Maldivian, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi, or any other (South) Asian person
• IC5 Chinese, Japanese, Korean or South-East Asian person
• IC6 Arabic, Egyptian or Maghreb person
• IC0 Origin unknown

This classification is still referred to on some police websites and police chase TV shows, e.g. "Driver is IC1 male, passenger is IC3 male".^[14]

From 1 April 2003, police forces were required to use the new system described above. Police forces and civil and emergency services, the NHS and local authorities in England and Wales may refer to this as the "16+1" system, named for the 16 classifications of ethnicity plus one category for "not stated". The IC classification is still used for descriptions of suspects by police officers amongst themselves, but does risk incorrectly identifying a victim a witness or a suspect compared to that person's own description of their ethnicity. When a person is stopped by a police officer exercising statutory powers and asked to provide information under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, they are asked to select one of the five main categories representing broad ethnic groups and then a more specific cultural background from within this group.^[15] Officers must record the respondent's answer, not their own opinion.

Notes

External links

• Ethnic group classification at ONS (PDF)