The Census in Northern Ireland
The Registrar General for Northern Ireland has statutory responsibility for carrying out the census in Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency published its proposals for the Northern Ireland census in April 2019 (‘the Northern Ireland Proposals’).2 This followed a programme of public consultation, stakeholder engagement and testing, the details of which can be found in section 2 of the Northern Ireland Proposals.
	The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency propose to ask a question on sexual orientation in the 2021 Census to inform policy development and enable organisations to meet and monitor their statutory equality obligations stemming from section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 and other relevant legislation. Section 3.6.2 of the Northern Ireland Proposals sets out the consideration process informing this proposal in more detail.
	Without an amendment to the census primary legislation for Northern Ireland, a question on sexual orientation would remain subject to a criminal penalty for non-response. To ensure people in Northern Ireland are afforded the same level of protection as people in England and Wales the provisions of the Act extend to Northern Ireland. The amendments to the primary census legislation for Northern Ireland mirror those for England and Wales, rather than excluding gender identity from the amendments, notably because this does not require future Northern Ireland censuses to include such a question.