10 January 2003
The authority is preparing to take legal proceedings against Len Cook, director of the Office for National Statistics. It is also considering asking Chancellor Gordon Brown to order a rerun of the census in Westminster.
The council says it stands to lose 'hundreds of millions' of pounds in central government grant over the next decade because the census showed an apparent 26% drop in the borough's population to 181,000, from an ONS estimate of 245,000 in 2000.
Westminster believes the census methodology failed to capture mobile population groups, such as asylum seekers, and its large number of multiple occupancy addresses. 'The reliability of the census is a prerequisite to the allocation of central government grant,' its letter said. 'There is compelling evidence of underestimation of Westminster's relevant population.'
Local government minister Nick Raynsford said he would reconsider Westminster's grant allocation if it could show, before the finance settlement consultation ends on January 14, that the census was flawed.
The authority has now demanded the ONS respond to its earlier requests for information before that date. If it does not, the matter is likely to end up in the courts. An ONS spokesman said: 'We are confident that the 2001 census provides the most accurate reflection of the population, both locally and nationally.'
PFjan2003
