Mr. Cormac Halpin:

A number of issues relating to the CSO were raised. I will attempt to address them insofar as I can. As for a category on autism as part of the disability question, in regard to the public consultation for the 2027 census, a number of submissions have been made about both autism and wheelchair use, although I cannot pre-empt what is going to happen there. It is not a CSO decision but a decision of the census advisory group. Those proposals have been received as part of the consultation, so they will be discussed by the census advisory group. If a disability subgroup is proposed, I would expect that both those submissions will be discussed by the subject matter experts to come to a recommendation to put to the plenary census advisory group. The autism question, in particular, was discussed in previous census consultations and consideration was given to creating specific categories for both autism spectrum disorder and Down's syndrome, but the census advisory group for previous censuses did not consider it feasible to list individual disabilities on the census form. Instead, the broader categories of an intellectual disability and a difficulty with learning, remembering and concentrating were created. Nevertheless, as I said, they will be discussed as part of the upcoming census advisory group.

On the disability survey, the CSO is happy to engage with all users and stakeholders, including on this issue, and any decision will be subject to the usual issues such as constraints relating to resourcing and funding. We will be happy to take formal submissions or engagement from users on that, engage with them and go through the process of making a decision.

As for whom the questions on the census form capture, as I said, the CSO does not really have a principled adherence to the questions as framed. I would expect that if change were proposed to the questions, there would be some resistance from other user groups in this space, based on the experience of the consultation for the previous census, although that is not to say they will not change. I would caution that census questions have to be understandable and comprehensible to the entire population, and framing questions in an overly complex way will make the data suffer. That has to be borne in mind, not least by the CSO, when questions are proposed for inclusion on the census. Even so, they can absolutely be changed with the agreement, to the greatest extent possible, of all users in this space.

Turning to the accessibility of previous census data, the CSO recognises the importance of ensuring our website is accessible to everyone, and we are committed to making our web content available to the widest possible audience, including those who use assisted technologies. We are focused on improving website user experience for everyone and we welcome feedback on accessibility and all aspects of our websites. We are working to update aspects of our website to improve content accessibility for everyone who visits it, including both technical updates to the website and policy updates to ensure the content we publish is optimised for universal access.

To respond to Deputy Tully's comments on the use of the data, the CSO's role in this regard is to make the data as accessible and available as possible. As regards outside organisations using the data, there is only so far the CSO can go. However, we try to make it as accessible as possible and push awareness to the greatest extent we can.

On resourcing, I think that is one question on which, to use a horrible phrase, we will have to get back to the committee. I do not think we can answer it here today.