UK Household Longitudinal Study

[Skybird]

No, it is being done by a university - but by order of the government (functioning as "customer") which plans to replace the census by it to make "better policies".

http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article3107949.ece
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/polit...233275,00.html

Originally Posted by Times

THE government is considering scrapping the national census after more than 200 years because the population is now so mobile it cannot be counted accurately.
The Treasury will soon begin talks over replacing the survey, which requires answers from all of Britain’s 24m households.
Pressure for a replacement after a final census in 2011 comes in the wake of serious failings in the 2001 census. The information is used as the basis for government funding of local authorities, so mistakes in counting a population can have serious consequences for public services.
A spokesman for the Office for National Statistics, which administers the census, said a formal review would begin early next year.
“We need to look again at the options available for the period beyond 2011,” he said. “Some countries are moving to alternative models and some have not held a traditional census for decades. We will be considering what others are doing as part of this review.”
Whitehall critics of the census maintain that because people move house and region so frequently, the information collected is out of date almost as soon as it has been analysed.
(...)
Critics are also concerned about possible mass noncompliance because of security fears sparked by the repeated loss of important personal data by government departments and the intrusive nature of questions.

I muist correct myself in one detail, though, the Guardian says so far it is planned to try voluntary participating only. statistically, that means a deformation of representativity, though - the sample would be needed to be choosen randomly and being representative, else it's findings are questionable. - so while they say it is voluntary now, it can become obilgatory at a later stage of planning nevertheless.

[mrbeast]

Much better links

In principle I wouldn't be totally against a study like this so long as it was on a totally voluntary basis and.......DNA samples were only taken on a similar voluntary basis.

I'm very uneasy about the taking of DNA samples, particularly by the police. IIRC there was a proposal that the police should be able to take a sample, against your will, even if they simply stopped you in the street.

Think there could be a grave over reliance on DNA evidence as being some sort of 'silver bullet' that solves all crimes. Its also tempting for the police to simply trawl through DNA records rather than investigating a crime fully.

So overall I would say this is something to keep an eye on.

[Skybird]

Plus a database of genetic samples is a tempting target for data theft, and identity verification (by health insurrances, employers, for example). the UK record in keeping data secret has suffered last year. but not only big coups, but cinstant minor level of data abuse is a concern, plus the appetite of lawmakers may become so intense that first they collect the data on basis of one set of laws, and when the database is ther and is filled, the legal basis gets chnaged and criterions for using it become softend up.