There may be an opportunity to use the 1961 and 1966 Census Master computer files, in collaboration with the Census Offices and Public Record Office, as a basis for generating new area statistics or microdata. Another suggestion might be to use published census data from censuses from 1901 onwards to create a time series of basic area statistics for the 20th century. A frequent comment by census users is that the census, being administered once a decade, is soon out of date. There is a need to integrate census data, which is published every ten years with survey and demographic statistics, which are produced annually or quarterly to create an estimated intercensal database for small areas. Exploration of appropriate methods for use after 2001 may be appropriate.
Many users find existing methods of accessing and using census data held on computer burdensome.
There is a need for improved interfaces to data sets. Such interfaces combine the best features of PC interactive software with central server provision of census data under continual revision, addition and development. The 1991 Census outputs included extensive sets of data on migration in the year before the census and on the daily journey to work. Interfaces were provided for extraction of subsets of data. There is a need, however, to exploit the value of these interaction datasets much further.