Rutland
Rutland is a landlocked county in the East Midlands of England, bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest length north to south is only 18 miles and its greatest breadth east to west is 17 miles, it is the fourth smallest in the UK as a whole. Because of this, the Latin motto Multum in Parvo or "much in little" was adopted by the county council in 1950, it has the smallest population of any normal unitary authority in England. Among the current ceremonial counties, the Isle of Wight, City of London and City of Bristol are smaller in area; the former County of London, in existence 1889 to 1965 had a smaller area. It is 323rd of the 326 districts in population; the only towns in Rutland are Oakham, the county town, Uppingham. At the centre of the county is Rutland Water, a large artificial reservoir, an important nature reserve serving as an overwintering site for wildfowl and a breeding site for ospreys. Rutland's older cottages are built from limestone or ironstone and many have roofs of Collyweston stone slate or thatch.
The origin of the name of the county is unclear. In a 1909 edition of Notes and Queries Harriot Tabor suggested "that the name should be Ruthland, that there is a part of Essex called the Ruth, that the ancient holders of it were called Ruthlanders, since altered to Rutland", its first mention, as "Roteland", occurs in the will of Edward the Confessor. The northwestern part of the county was recorded as Rutland, a detached part of Nottinghamshire, in Domesday Book, it was first mentioned as a separate county in 1159, but as late as the 14th century it was referred to as the'Soke of Rutland'. It was known as Rutlandshire, but in recent times only the shorter name is common. Rutland may be from Old English hryþr or hrythr "cattle" and land "land", as a record from 1128 as Ritelanede shows. However, A Dictionary of British Place-Names by A D Mills gives an alternative etymology, "Rota's land", from the Old English personal name and land land, it is from the alternative interpretation of red land that the traditional nickname for a male person from Rutland, a "Raddle Man", derives.
Earl of Rutland and Duke of Rutland are titles in the peerage of England held in the Manners family, derived from the historic county of Rutland. The Earl of Rutland was elevated to the status of Duke in 1703 and the titles were merged; the family seat is Leicestershire. The office of High Sheriff of Rutland was instituted in 1129, there has been a Lord Lieutenant of Rutland since at least 1559. By the time of the 19th century it had been divided into the hundreds of Alstoe, Martinsley and Wrandike. Rutland covered parts of three poor law unions and rural sanitary districts: those of Oakham and Stamford; the registration county of Rutland contained the entirety of Oakham and Uppingham RSDs, which included several parishes in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire – the eastern part in Stamford RSD was included in the Lincolnshire registration county. Under the Poor Laws, Oakham Union workhouse was built in 1836–37 at a site to the north-east of the town, with room for 100 paupers; the building operated as the Catmose Vale Hospital, now forms part of the Oakham School.
In 1894 under the Local Government Act 1894 the rural sanitary districts were partitioned along county boundaries to form three rural districts. The part of Oakham and Uppingham RSDs in Rutland formed the Oakham Rural District and Uppingham Rural District, with the two parishes from Oakham RSD in Leicestershire becoming part of the Melton Mowbray Rural District, the nine parishes of Uppingham RSD in Leicestershire becoming the Hallaton Rural District, the six parishes of Uppingham RSD in Northamptonshire becoming Gretton Rural District. Meanwhile, that part of Stamford RSD in Rutland became the Ketton Rural District. Oakham Urban District was created from Oakham Rural District in 1911, it was subsequently abolished in 1974. Rutland was included in the "East Midlands General Review Area" of the 1958–67 Local Government Commission for England. Draft recommendations would have seen Rutland split, with Ketton Rural District going along with Stamford to a new administrative county of Cambridgeshire, the western part added to Leicestershire.
The final proposals were less radical and instead proposed that Rutland become a single rural district within the administrative county of Leicestershire. Rutland became a non-metropolitan district of Leicestershire under the Local Government Act 1972, which took effect on 1 April 1974; the original proposal was for Rutland to be merged with what is now the Melton borough, as Rutland did not meet the requirement of having a population of at least 40,000. The revised and implemented proposals allowed Rutland to be exempt from this. In 1994, the Local Government Commission for England, conducting a structural review of English local government, recommended that Rutland become a unitary authority; this was implemented on 1 April 1997, when Rutland County Council became responsible for all local services in Rutland, with the exception of the Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service and Leicestershire Police, which are run by joint boards with Leicestershire County Council and Leicester City Council.
Rutland regained a separate Lieutenancy and shrievalty, thus regained status as a ceremonial county. Rutland wa
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It consists of Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland; the region has an area of 15,627 km2, with a population over 4.5 million in 2011. There are five main urban centres, Leicester, Lincoln and Nottingham. Others include Boston, Chesterfield, Grantham, Kettering, Mansfield, Newark-on-Trent and Wellingborough. Relative proximity to London and its position on the national motorway and trunk road networks help the East Midlands to thrive as an economic hub. Nottingham and Leicester are each classified as a sufficiency-level world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network; the region is served by East Midlands Airport, which lies between Derby and Nottingham. The high point at 636 m is Kinder Scout, in the Peak District of the southern Pennines in northwest Derbyshire near Glossop. Other upland, hilly areas of 95 to 280 m in altitude, together with lakes and reservoirs, rise in and around the Charnwood Forest north of Leicester, in the Lincolnshire Wolds.
The region's major rivers, the Nene, the Soar, the Trent and the Welland, flow in a northeasterly direction towards the Humber and the Wash. The Derwent, rises in the High Peak before flowing south to join the Trent some 2 miles before its conflux with the Soar; the centre of the East Midlands area lies between Bingham and Bottesford, Leicestershire. The geographical centre of England lies in Higham on the Hill in west Leicestershire, close to the boundary between the Leicestershire and Warwickshire; some 88 per cent of the land is rural in character, although agriculture accounts for less than three per cent of the region's jobs. Lincolnshire is the only maritime county of the six, with a true North Sea coastline of about 30 miles due to the protection afforded by Spurn Head and the North Norfolk foreshore. Church Flatts Farm in Coton in the Elms, South Derbyshire, is the furthest place from the sea in the UK. In April 1936 the first Ordnance Survey trig point was sited at Cold Ashby in Northamptonshire.
The Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts and The Wildlife Trusts are based next to the River Trent and Newark Castle railway station. The National Centre for Earth Observation is at the University of Leicester; the region is home to large quantities of limestone, the East Midlands Oil Province. Charnwood Forest is noted for its abundant levels of volcanic rock, estimated to be 600 million years old. A quarter of the UK's cement is manufactured in the region, at three sites in Hope and Tunstead in Derbyshire, Ketton Cement Works in Rutland. Of the aggregates produced in the region, 25 per cent are from Derbyshire and four per cent from Leicestershire. Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire each produce around 30 per cent of the region's sand and gravel output. Barwell in Leicestershire was the site of Britain's largest meteorite on 24 December 1965; the 2008 Lincolnshire earthquake was 5.2 in magnitude. Areas of the East Midlands designated by the East Midlands Biodiversity Partnership as Biodiversity Conservation Areas include: Charnwood Forest Coversand Heaths Derbyshire Peak Fringe and Lower Derwent Humberhead Levels Leighland Forest The Lincolnshire Limewoods and Heaths The Lincolnshire coast The Peak District Rockingham Forest Sherwood Forest Rutland, SW Lincolnshire and N Northamptonshire The Wash Areas of the East Midlands designated by the East Midlands Biodiversity Partnership as Biodiversity Enhancement Areas include: The Coalfields The Daventry Grasslands The Fens The Lincolnshire Coastal Grazing Marshes The Lincolnshire Wolds The National Forest The Yardley-Whittlewood RidgeTwo of the nationally designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty are: The Peak District The Lincolnshire Wolds Several towns in the southern part of the region, including Market Harborough, Rothwell, Kettering, Thrapston and Stamford, lie within the boundaries of what was once Rockingham Forest – designated a royal forest by William the Conqueror and was long hunted by English kings and queens.
The National Forest is an environmental project in central England run by The National Forest Company. Areas of north Leicestershire, south Derbyshire and south-east Staffordshire covering around 200 square miles are being planted in an attempt to blend ancient woodland with new plantings, it stretches from the western outskirts of Leicester in the east to Burton upon Trent in the west, is planned to link the ancient forests of Needwood and Charnwood. Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire attracts many visitors, is best known for its ties with the legend of Robin Hood. Regional financial funding decisions for the East Midlands are taken by East Midlands Councils, based in Melton Mowbray. East Midlands Councils is an unelected body made up of representatives of local government in the region; the defunct East Midlands Development Agency was headquartered next to the BBC's East Midlands office in Nottingham and made financial decisions regarding economic development in the region. Since the Conservative-Lib Dem coalition government launched its austerity programme after the 2010 general election, regional bodies such as those have been devolved to smaller groups now on a county level.
As a region today, there is no overriding body with significant financial or planning powers for the East Midlands. The East Midlands' largest settlements are Leicester, Derby, Chesterfield, Mansfield and Kettering. Leicester is the largest
Forestry Commission
The Forestry Commission is a non-ministerial government department responsible for forestry in England. It was also responsible for Forestry in Wales and Scotland, however on 1 April 2013 Forestry Commission Wales merged with other agencies to become Natural Resources Wales, whilst two new bodies were established in Scotland on 1 April 2019; the commission was set up in 1919 to expand Britain's forests and woodland after depletion during the First World War. To do this, the commission bought large amounts of former agricultural land becoming the largest land owner in Britain; the Commission is divided into three divisions: Forestry England, Forestry Commission and Forest Research. Over time the purpose of the Commission broadened to include many other activities beyond timber production. One major activity is scientific research, some of, carried out in research forests across Britain. Recreation is important, with several outdoor activities being promoted. Protecting and improving biodiversity across England's forests are part of the Forestry Commission's remit.
The Commission received criticism for its reliance on conifers the uniform appearance of conifer forests and concerns over a lack of biodiversity. Protests from the general public and conservation groups accompanied attempts to privatise the organisation in 1993 and 2010. Prior to the setting up of separate bodies for Scotland the Forestry Commission managed 700,000 hectares of land in England and Scotland, making it the country's biggest land manager; the majority of the land was in Scotland, 30% of the landholding is in England. Activities carried out on the forest estate include maintenance and improvement of the natural environment and the provision of recreation, timber harvesting to supply domestic industry, regenerating brownfield and replanting of harvested areas. Afforestation was the main reason for the creation of the commission in 1919. Britain had only 5% of its original forest cover left and the government at that time wanted to create a strategic resource of timber. Since forest coverage has doubled and the commission's remit expanded to include greater focus on sustainable forest management and maximising public benefits.
Woodland creation continues to be an important role of the commission and works with government to achieve its goal of 12% forest coverage by 2060, championing initiatives such as The Big Tree Plant and Woodland Carbon Code. The Forestry Commission is the government body responsible for the regulation of private forestry in England; the Commission is responsible for encouraging new private forest growth and development. Part of this role is carried out by providing grants in support of private woodlands; the Forestry Commission was established as part of the Forestry Act 1919. The board was made up of eight forestry commissioners and was chaired by Simon Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat from 1919 to 1927; the commission was set up to increase the amount of woodland in Britain by buying land for afforestation and reforestation. The commission was tasked with promoting forestry and the production of timber for trade. During the 1920s the Commission focused on acquiring land to begin planting out new forests.
During the Great Depression the Forestry Commission's estate continued to grow so that it was just over 360,000 hectares of land by 1934. The low cost of land, the need to increase timber production meant that by 1939 the Forestry Commission was the largest landowner in Britain. At the outbreak of the Second World War the Forestry Commission was split into the Forest Management Department, to continue with the Commission's duties, the Timber Supply Department to produce enough timber for the war effort; this division lasted until 1941, when the Timber Supply Department was absorbed by the Ministry of Supply. Much of the timber supplied for the war came from the Forest of Dean; the war saw the Commission introduce the licensing system for tree felling. By the end of the war a third of available timber had been cut down and used; the advisory committee on Forest Research was formed in 1929 to guide the research efforts of the Forestry Commission. After the war, the Commission began to increase its research output significantly.
This included the establishment of three research stations beginning with Alice Holt Lodge in 1946. The expansion in research accompanied a significant increase in timber sales, exceeding £2 million per year during the 1950s; the Countryside Act 1968 required public bodies, including the Forestry Commission, to "have regard to the desirability of conserving the natural beauty and amenity of the countryside." This forced the Commission to focus on conservation and recreation as well as the production and sale of timber. The conservation effort was driven by Peter Garthwaite and Sylvia Crowe. Crowe helped the Commission landscape their forests to make them more appropriate for recreational use. Having begun to develop campsites within their forests during the early 1960s, the Commission set up a Forest Cabins Branch during the 1970s to expand the number of cabins available for the public to stay in during their holidays. In 1970 the Commission opened its Northern research station in Roslin; the 1970s saw the publication of a Treasury report which stated "afforestation... and replanting fell far short of achieving the official 10% return on investment" with concerns over the long term profitability of timber production.
This was coupled with a major outbreak of Dutch elm
London Stone
London Stone is a historic landmark housed at 111 Cannon Street in the City of London. It is an irregular block of oolitic limestone measuring 53 × 43 × 30 cm, the remnant of a once much larger object that had stood for many centuries on the south side of the street; the name "London Stone" was first recorded around the year 1100. The date and original purpose of the Stone are unknown, although it is of Roman origin, there has been interest and speculation about it since at least the 16th century. There are modern claims that it was an object of veneration, or has some occult significance; these assertions, are unsubstantiated. The present London Stone is only the upper portion of a once much larger object, as described below under History; the surviving portion is a block of oolitic limestone 53 cm wide, 43 cm high, 30 cm front to back. A study in the 1960s indicated that the stone is Clipsham Limestone, a good-quality stone from Rutland transported to London for building purposes in both the Roman and medieval periods.
More Kevin Hayward has suggested that it may be Bath stone, the stone most used for monuments and sculpture in early Roman London and in Saxon times. Between 1962 and 2016 London Stone was on the north side of Cannon Street, opposite Cannon Street station, in an aperture in the wall of 111 Cannon Street, surrounded by a decorative Portland stone fascia with an iron grille. Inside the building it was protected by a glass case; the stone and its surround, with the iron grille, were designated a Grade II* listed structure on 5 June 1972. A bronze plaque on the sloping top of the casing, dating from 1962, read: This is a fragment of the original piece of limestone once securely fixed in the ground now fronting Cannon Street Station. Removed in 1742 to the north side of the street, in 1798 it was built into the south wall of the Church of St. Swithun London Stone which stood here until demolished in 1962, its origin and purpose are unknown but in 1188 there was a reference to Henry, son of Eylwin de Lundenstane, subsequently Lord Mayor of London.
When London Stone was erected and what its original function was are unknown, although there has been much speculation. The stone was on the south side of medieval Candlewick Street opposite the west end of St Swithin's Church, is shown in this position on the "Copperplate" map of London, dating to the 1550s, on the derivative "Woodcut" map of the 1560s, it was described by the London historian John Stow in 1598 as "a great stone called London stone", "pitched upright... fixed in the ground verie deep, fastned with bars of iron". Stow does not give the dimensions of this "great stone", but a French visitor to London in 1578 had recorded that the Stone was three feet high, two feet wide, one foot thick. Thus, although it was a local landmark, London Stone, at least that part of it standing above ground, was not impressive; the earliest reference to it is said to be that noted by John Stow, in his Survey of London. Stow says that in a list of properties in London belonging to Christ Church, one piece of land was described as lying "neare unto London stone".
This list, he says, had been bound into the end of a Gospel Book given to the cathedral by "Ethelstane king of the west Saxons" identified as Æthelstan, king of England. But it is impossible to confirm Stow's account, since the document he saw cannot now be identified with certainty. However, the earliest extant list of Canterbury's London properties, dated to between 1098 and 1108, does refer to a property given to the cathedral by a man named "Eadwaker æt lundene stane". Although not bound into a Gospel Book, it could be that it was this, or a similar text, that Stow saw. Like Eadwaker, other medieval Londoners acquired or adopted the byname "at London Stone" or "of London Stone" because they lived nearby. One of these was "Ailwin of London Stone", the father of Henry Fitz-Ailwin the first Mayor of the City of London, who took office at some time between 1189 and 1193, governed the city until his death in 1212; the Fitz-Ailwin house stood away on the north side of St Swithin's church. London Stone was a well-known landmark in medieval London, when in 1450 Jack Cade, leader of a rebellion against the corrupt government of Henry VI, entered the city with his men, he struck his sword on London Stone and claimed to be "Lord of this city".
Contemporary accounts give no clue as to Cade's motivation, or how his followers or the Londoners would have interpreted his action. There is nothing to suggest he was carrying out a traditional custom. By the time of Queen Elizabeth I London Stone was not a landmark and named on maps, but a visitor attraction in its own right. Tourists may have been told variously that it had stood there since before the city existed, or that it had been set up by order of King Lud, legendary rebuilder of London, or that it marked the centre of the city, or that it was "set for the tendering and making of payment by debtors". In 1608 it was listed in a poem by Samuel Rowlands as one of the "sights" of London shown to "an honest Country foole" on a visit to town. During the 17th century the Stone continued to identify a locality. Thus, for example, Thomas Heywood's biography of Queen Elizabeth I, Englands Elizabeth, according to
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is applied to living organisms, most of the time to humans, it is a key geographical term. In simple terms population density refers to the number of people living in an area per kilometer square. Population density is population divided by total land water volume, as appropriate. Low densities may lead to further reduced fertility; this is called the Allee effect after the scientist. Examples of the causes in low population densities include: Increased problems with locating sexual mates Increased inbreeding For humans, population density is the number of people per unit of area quoted per square kilometer or square mile; this may be calculated for a county, country, another territory or the entire world. The world's population is around 7,500,000,000 and Earth's total area is 510,000,000 square kilometers. Therefore, the worldwide human population density is around 7,500,000,000 ÷ 510,000,000 = 14.7 per km2. If only the Earth's land area of 150,000,000 km2 is taken into account human population density is 50 per km2.
This includes all continental and island land area, including Antarctica. If Antarctica is excluded population density rises to over 55 people per km2. However, over half of the Earth's land mass consists of areas inhospitable to human habitation, such as deserts and high mountains, population tends to cluster around seaports and fresh-water sources. Thus, this number by itself does not give any helpful measurement of human population density. Several of the most densely populated territories in the world are city-states and dependencies; these territories have a small area and a high urbanization level, with an economically specialized city population drawing on rural resources outside the area, illustrating the difference between high population density and overpopulation The potential to maintain the agricultural aspects of deserts is limited as there is not enough precipitation to support a sustainable land. The population in these areas are low. Therefore, cities in the Middle East, such as Dubai, have been increasing in population and infrastructure growth at a fast pace.
Cities with high population densities are, by some, considered to be overpopulated, though this will depend on factors like quality of housing and infrastructure and access to resources. Most of the most densely populated cities are in Southeast Asia, though Cairo and Lagos in Africa fall into this category. City population and area are, however dependent on the definition of "urban area" used: densities are invariably higher for the central city area than when suburban settlements and the intervening rural areas are included, as in the areas of agglomeration or metropolitan area, the latter sometimes including neighboring cities. For instance, Milwaukee has a greater population density when just the inner city is measured, the surrounding suburbs excluded. In comparison, based on a world population of seven billion, the world's inhabitants, as a loose crowd taking up ten square feet per person, would occupy a space a little larger than Delaware's land area; the Gaza Strip has a population density of 5,046 pop/km.
Although arithmetic density is the most common way of measuring population density, several other methods have been developed to provide a more accurate measure of population density over a specific area. Arithmetic density: The total number of people / area of land Physiological density: The total population / area of arable land Agricultural density: The total rural population / area of arable land Residential density: The number of people living in an urban area / area of residential land Urban density: The number of people inhabiting an urban area / total area of urban land Ecological optimum: The density of population that can be supported by the natural resources Demography Human geography Idealized population Optimum population Population genetics Population health Population momentum Population pyramid Rural transport problem Small population size Distance sampling List of population concern organizations List of countries by population density List of cities by population density List of city districts by population density List of English districts by population density List of European cities proper by population density List of United States cities by population density List of islands by population density List of U.
S. states by population density List of Australian suburbs by population density Selected Current and Historic City, Ward & Neighborhood Density Duncan Smith / UCL Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis. "World Population Density". Exploratory map shows data from the Global Human Settlement Layer produced by the European Commission JRC and the CIESIN Columbia University
Fire services in the United Kingdom
The fire services in the United Kingdom operate under separate legislative and administrative arrangements in England and Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland. Emergency cover is provided by over fifty agencies; these are known as a fire and rescue service, the term used in modern legislation and by government departments. The older terms of fire brigade and fire service survive in informal usage and in the names of a few organisations. England and Wales have local fire services which are each overseen by a fire authority, made up of representatives of local governments. Fire authorities have the power to raise a Council Tax levy for funding, with the remainder coming from the government. Scotland and Northern Ireland have centralised fire services, so their authorities are committees of the devolved parliaments; the total budget for fire services in 2014-15 was £2.9 billion. Central government maintains national standards and a body of independent advisers through the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser, created in 2007, while Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services provides direct oversight.
The devolved government in Scotland has HMFSI Scotland. Firefighters in the United Kingdom are allowed to join unions, the main one being the Fire Brigades Union, while chief fire officers are members of the National Fire Chiefs Council, which has some role in national co-ordination; the fire services have undergone significant changes since the beginning of the 21st century, a process, propelled by a devolution of central government powers, new legislation and a change to operational procedures in the light of terrorism attacks and threats. See separate article History of fire safety legislation in the United Kingdom Comprehensive list of recent UK fire and rescue service legislation: Fire services are established and granted their powers under new legislation which has replaced a number of Acts of Parliament dating back more than 60 years, but is still undergoing change. 1938: Fire Brigades Act 1938. This Act provided for centralised co-ordination of fire brigades in Great Britain and made it mandatory for local authorities to arrange an effective fire service.
1947: Fire Services Act 1947 This Act transferred the functions of the National Fire Service to local authorities. Now repealed in England and Wales by Schedule 2 of the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. 1959: Fire Services Act 1959 This Act amended the 1947 Act. It was repealed in Wales along with the 1947 Act. 1999: Greater London Authority Act 1999 This act was necessary to allow for the formation of the Greater London Authority and in turn the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority. In 2002, there was a series of national fire strikes, with much of the discontent caused by the aforementioned report into the fire service conducted by Prof Sir George Bain. In December 2002, the Independent Review of the Fire Service was published with the industrial action still ongoing. Bain's report led to a change in the laws relating to firefighting. 2002: Independent Review of the Fire Service published 2004: Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 only applying to England and Wales. 2006: The Regulatory Reform Order 2005 This piece of secondary legislation or statutory instrument replaces several other acts that dealt with fire precautions and fire safety in premises, including the now defunct process of issuing fire certificates.
It came into force on 1 October 2006. The DfCLG has published a set of guides for non-domestic premises: 2006: The Government of Wales Act 2006 gave the National Assembly for Wales powers to pass laws on "Fire and rescue services. Promotion of fire safety otherwise than by prohibition or regulation." But does not prevent future legislation being passed by the UK government which applies to two or more constituent countries. There are further plans to modernise the fire service according to the Local Government Association, its website outlines future changes, specific projects: "The aim of the Fire Modernisation Programme is to adopt modern work practices within the Fire & Rescue Service to become more efficient and effective, while strengthening the contingency and resilience of the Service to react to incidents. " The fire service in England and Wales is scrutinised by a House of Commons select committee. In June 2006, the fire and rescue service select committee, under the auspices of the Communities and Local Government Committee, published its latest report.
Committee report The committee's brief is described on its website: The Communities and Local Government Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure and policy of the Department for Communities and Local Government and its associated bodies. Government response This document, the subsequent government response in September 2006, are important as they outlined progress on the FiReControl, efforts to address diversity and the planned closure of HMFSI in 2007 among many issues. Both documents are interesting as they refer back to Professor Bain's report and the many recommendations it made and continue to put forward the notion that there is an ongoing need to modernise FRSs. For example, where FRSs were inspected by HMFSI, much of this work is now carried out by the National Audit Office. Fire Control On 8 February 2010 the House of Commons Communities and Local Governm
United Kingdom census, 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194; the 2001 UK census was organised by the Office for National Statistics in England and Wales, the General Register Office for Scotland and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Detailed results by region, council area and output area are available from their respective websites. Similar to previous UK censuses, the 2001 census was organised by the three statistical agencies, ONS, GROS, NISRA, coordinated at the national level by the Office for National Statistics; the Orders in Council to conduct the census, specifying the people and information to be included in the census, were made under the authority of the Census Act 1920 in Great Britain, the Census Act 1969 in Northern Ireland. In England and Wales these regulations were made by the Census Order 2000, in Scotland by the Census Order 2000, in Northern Ireland by the Census Order 2000.
The census was administered through self-completion forms, in most cases delivered by enumerators to households and communal establishments in the three weeks before census night on 29 April. For the first time return by post was used as the main collection method, with enumerators following up in person where the forms were not returned; the postal response rate was 88% in England and Wales, 91% in Scotland, 92% in Northern Ireland. A total of 81,000 field staff were employed across the UK; the census was conducted at the height of the foot-and-mouth crisis, which led to extra precautions being adopted by the field staff, suggestions that the census may have to be postponed. However, it was reported that the disease outbreak did not affect the effectiveness of the collection process; the census was estimated to cost £259m over its 13-year cycle from the start of planning in 1993 to the delivery of final results in 2006. Printing of the 30 million census forms was subcontracted to Polestar Group, processing of the returned census forms was subcontracted to Lockheed Martin in a contract worth £54m.
The forms were scanned into digital format read with OMR and OCR, with manual entry where the automatic process could not read the forms. The forms were pulped and recycled, the digital copies printed onto microfilm for storage and release after 100 years. Once the data were returned to the statistics agencies it underwent further processing to ensure consistency and to impute missing values; the overall response rate for the census, the proportion of the population who were included on a census form, was estimated to be 94% in England and Wales, 96.1% in Scotland and 95.2% in Northern Ireland. This was due to a number of factors: households with no response, households excluding residents from their returns, addresses not included in the enumeration. In Manchester for example 25,000 people from 14,000 addresses were not enumerated because the address database was two years out of date; the Local Authority with the lowest response was Kensington and Chelsea with 64%. Hackney had the next lowest response at 72%.
Out of all local authorities, the ten lowest response rates were all in London. The results still represent 100 per cent of the population, because some individuals not completing their forms were instead identified by census enumerators, through the use of cross-matching with a follow-up survey; the results from the 2001 census were produced using a methodology known as the One Number Census. This was an attempt to adjust the census counts and impute answers to allow for estimated under-enumeration measured by the Census Coverage Survey, resulting in a single set of population estimates. Although the 1851 census had included a question about religion on a separate response sheet, whose completion was not compulsory, the 2001 census was the first in Great Britain to ask about the religion of respondents on the main census form. An amendment to the 1920 Census Act was passed by Parliament to allow the question to be asked, to allow the response to this question to be optional; the inclusion of the question enabled the Jedi census phenomenon to take place in the United Kingdom.
In England and Wales 390,127 people stated their religion as Jedi. The percentages of religious affiliations were: Christian: 72.0% Muslim: 3% Hindu: 1% Sikh: 0.6% Jewish: 0.5% Buddhist: 0.3% Any other religion: 0.3%15% declared themselves of no religion and 8% did not respond to the question. After the 2001 census it became clear that the statistics for those adhering to the Neopagan group of religions were inaccurately recorded; this was caused by a dilution of statistics, with some adherents entering "Pagan" and others entering their individual religions such as "Wiccan" or "Druid", which fall under the umbrella term of "Pagan", leaving a significant number of people unaccounted for. The situation was worsened when the Heathenism statistics were grouped in with Atheism by the Office for National Statistics; the Pagan Federation and the "PaganDash" campaign lobbied for a separate tickbox for Paganism on the 2011 census, but were unsuccessful. The census ethnic groups included White, Asian or Asian British, Black or Black British (
