The Census (Amendment) Act 2000 (2000 c. 24) was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It gained Royal Assent on the 28th July 2000.
It amended the Census Act 1920 to permit questions to be asked in the census about religion, but provided that no person was to be subject to a penalty for refusing or neglecting to provide details in response to such a question. The amendment was made in preparation for the 2001 UK census, which was the first census in Great Britain to ask about religion since the 1920 Census Act.
The Census (Amendment) Act 2000 extended only to England and Wales. In Scotland the same amendments were made by the Census (Amendment) (Scotland) Act 2000, which received Royal Assent on 10 April 2000. The same amendments were not required in Northern Ireland since the Census Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 already allowed questions about religion.
This Act should not be confused with the Census (Amendment) Order 2000, which was a related amendment to the Census Order 2000. The Census (Amendment) Order, made on 13 Dec 2000 (England and Wales), specified a single question to be asked about religion on the 2001 UK census. That amendment was made possible by the Census (Amendment) Act 2000.
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