Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure that data from the 1921 census is accessible; and whether her Department has plans for platforms other than Findmypast to host 1921 census data.

The 1921 Census for England and Wales was released on 6 January 2022 by The National Archives and its commercial partner, Findmypast. The cost of creating digital images, transcribing records, and building the infrastructure to present records online was beyond the resources of The National Archives. In order to allow digital access and widen access beyond the physical location of the Census, The National Archives selected Findmypast as its digitisation partner after a fair and open tendering process.

The Census is free to view in digital format at The National Archives in Kew and two regional hubs, Manchester Central Library and The National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth. Findmypast also offers online access to the 1921 Census anywhere, including the viewing of images and transcriptions of records. There are currently no plans for platforms other than Findmypast to host the 1921 Census online. Searching for records on Findmypast is free, and viewing records and transcripts is on a subscription-free, pay-per-view basis. Findmypast has committed to bringing the 1921 Census to its library customers for use in their reading rooms before the end of 2022.