What provision has been made for census enumerators to receive visual impairment and deafblind awareness training.

Special arrangements to assist those who are visually impaired or have hearing difficulties to complete a census form have been made through the Registrar General's Community Liaison Initiative for the census, which was introduced last year. The twin aims of the initiative are to raise awareness of the census among those groups in the population thought to have been undercounted in the 1991 census, and to establish contact with a range of voluntary organisations in order that their assistance could be enlisted to help people who, for one reason or another, might be apprehensive about the census, or who might have difficulty in completing a census form.Initial contact was made by the General Register Office for Scotland at national level with organisations which included those representing people with particular disabilities, such as the Scottish Council on Deafness and the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB). From these initial contacts a database of local contacts was established enabling the 22 Census Area Managers throughout Scotland to develop locally a link with these groups so that, in the event of someone needing help, frontline skilled assistance would be available from the representative organisations. These organisations were provided with the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the Census Area Managers. The aim is for the local voluntary groups to let census managers know of individual people who may require assistance to complete a census form so that census field staff can tap in to this assistance, often provided by someone familiar to the householder. Citizens Advice Bureaux may also be able to provide help.Census Enumerators will receive instructions and training on dealing with the public generally as well as with people who may have difficulty completing their form. The Enumerators are instructed to provide assistance where this is unavailable from the professional sources mentioned, or from relatives, friends, neighbours, home helps etc.The census questions and the information leaflet, which is delivered along with the census form, are available in Braille and in large print to standards agreed with RNIB. There is also a census telephone helpline and a textphone for the deaf. Both numbers are shown on the Census form, as well as on the Braille and the large print leaflets. Videos used by Census Area Managers in community liaison meetings include subtitles for use by those who have hearing difficulties. Two audiotapes have been produced for circulation by the Scottish Talking Newspaper group. The first gives a general overview of the census and the questions being asked, while the second covers the help available to persons with a sight impairment. Census managers are also able to seek the services of British Sign Language interpreters where necessary.The census form has been designed so that many of the questions can be answered by ticking a box and the information can be captured using modern digital scanning technology. This will deliver major cost savings compared with traditional clerical processing. The precision required in this process coupled with the sheer volume of the operation means that it is not practical to offer the actual forms in large print or in Braille. If, however, someone cannot complete a census form, they can contact the Census Helplines and arrangements will be put in place for help to be provided to complete the form through the Community Liaison Initiative or by census staff. Alternatively, those needing assistance can tell the enumerator who will notify the field managers of the kind of assistance required.The census form is not available for completion by email because of concerns about confidentiality, duplication and authentication, and the low value for money of setting up electronic completion facilities in tandem with those for completion of the paper forms.