Anthony Camber

The UK Office of National Statistics (ONS) invited me, along with no doubt thousands of others, to take part in a survey called Shape Tomorrow. In the words of the ONS:

Some other choice quotes from that page:

“Taking part in this study is your chance to help us understand the changing needs of the whole community.”

“improving health care, well-being, and social care services”

The survey asks for information about every member of the household, including each person’s name and date of birth.

The survey asks about your sexuality. There’s an “Other” option, with a box in which you can type anything. Your answer isn’t shown to other household members. This is standard stuff: nothing controversial here. Here’s what you see:

However, the sexuality question immediately follows this one:

The survey’s not asking for “sex assigned at birth” or “biological sex” — just “sex”. There are only two options provided.

There is no question about gender.

The survey provides no way for a trans person to state that they’re trans.

You’re asked for your job title, and what that means, and what your employer does, and whether you’re part-time or full-time, and whether you’re self-employed, and what aches and pains you might have, and how much they bother you, and “how satisfied are you with your life nowadays” on a scale of 0-10, but nothing about gender.

The Market Research Society has a page with a PDF containing guidance for surveys asking about sex and gender. Ominously, perhaps, at time of writing there’s a note at the top: “This guidance is currently being updated for 2025”. I take that to mean “we’re trying to figure out what to say after the recent Supreme Court judgement”.

The ONS survey does not follow the 2024 MRS guidance. A binary question on sex is a throwback to the old, unenlightened days.

Why have they done this?

I can think of some possible reasons:

• The ONS doesn’t think that gender is relevant for a survey called Shape Tomorrow. Seems unlikely.
• The ONS isn’t very good at designing surveys. Also unlikely.
• The ONS accidentally omitted the question. Also unlikely.
• The ONS thinks a question on gender is politically troublesome after the Supreme Court judgement. Plausible.
• The ONS has been leaned on to omit a politically troublesome question. Again, plausible.

Whatever the reason, I do know that without a question on gender the ONS survey is incomplete, its results will be unreliable, and any recommendations it produces will be flawed.