<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The 2011 Census for England and Wales made extensive use of administrative data to quality assure the estimates. This included record linkage between census and administrative data. This article describes the role of record linkage in the quality-assurance process. It outlines the operational challenges that we faced and how we resolved them. Record linkage was confined to a sample within 58 carefully selected local authorities. We found characteristic patterns of under- and overcoverage in the National Health Service Patient Register, which we illustrate here with examples. Our findings may be useful in countries that, like England and Wales, do not have a comprehensive population register to draw on and that need to understand issues of coverage in their routinely collected administrative data and the use of these data to estimate populations.</p></abstract>

The 2011 Census for England and Wales made extensive use of administrative data to quality assure the estimates. This included record linkage between census and administrative data. This article describes the role of record linkage in the quality-assurance process. It outlines the operational challenges that we faced and how we resolved them. Record linkage was confined to a sample within 58 carefully selected local authorities. We found characteristic patterns of under- and overcoverage in the National Health Service Patient Register, which we illustrate here with examples. Our findings may be useful in countries that, like England and Wales, do not have a comprehensive population register to draw on and that need to understand issues of coverage in their routinely collected administrative data and the use of these data to estimate populations.

Linkage of Census and Administrative Data to Quality Assure the 2011 Census for England and Wales

Office for National Statistics (ONS), Digital, Technology and Methodology, Fareham, PO15 5RR Hampshire, UK.

Department for Energy and Climate Change, 3 Whitehall Place, SW1A 2AW London, UK.

Office for National Statistics (ONS), Population and Demography, Fareham, PO15 5RR Hampshire, UK.

Journal of Official Statistics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The 2011 Census for England and Wales made extensive use of administrative data to quality assure the estimates. This included record linkage between census...

Linkage of Census and Administrative Data to Quality Assure the 2011 Census for England and Wales

Published Online: Sep 01, 2015

Page range: 453 - 473

Received: Jan 01, 2014

Accepted: Mar 01, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jos-2015-0027

Keywords
Record linkage, administrative data coverage, linkage methods

© by Louisa Blackwell

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Linkage of Census and Administrative Data to Quality Assure the 2011 Census for England and Wales

Published Online: Sep 01, 2015

Page range: 453 - 473

Received: Jan 01, 2014

Accepted: Mar 01, 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/jos-2015-0027

KeywordsRecord linkage, administrative data coverage, linkage methods

© by Louisa Blackwell

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
Record linkage, administrative data coverage, linkage methods