Section 2: Amendment of the Census Act (Northern Ireland) 1969
This section amends the 1969 Act to enable the asking of voluntary questions on sexual orientation and gender identity in Northern Ireland.
	Subsection (2) adds sexual orientation and gender identity to the Schedule to the 1969 Act. This means they are specified as matters in respect of which census questions may be asked in Northern Ireland.
	Questions on sexual orientation and gender identity could already be asked in the Northern Ireland census under paragraph 8 of the Schedule to the 1969 Act. Adding these matters is intended to clarify this existing law and to make clear the matters to which the removal of penalties in subsection (3) relate. It does not require questions on these matters to be asked in future censuses.
	Subsection (3) amends section 7(3) of the 1969 Act such that no person shall be liable to a penalty under section 8(1) of that Act for refusing or neglecting to state any particulars in respect of sexual orientation or gender identity – effectively making any such questions voluntary.
	Section 2 forms part of the law of, and applies to, Northern Ireland.