Scotland's householders will be able to complete census questionnaires online for the first time during the next census in 2011, the Registrar General announced today.

Duncan Macniven said residents in west Edinburgh, Lewis and Harris will be the first in the UK to test the new option when they take part in the 2009 census rehearsal.

The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) confirmed online questionnaires will be available following the award of an £18.5m contract for Scotland's census IT and printing services, awarded to CACI (UK), who have already developed services for two censuses in the Republic of Ireland.

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Mr Macniven said: "The next census is the first to offer people the online questionnaire option. We studied other countries' approaches to using the internet for census returns and concluded that it offers many benefits.

"Householders can choose the method that is most convenient to them: a paper or online questionnaire. The online option has the potential to improve the quality of the results because we can help people navigate through the questionnaire and consider how to answer each question.

Census record remains private for 100 years after the census. CACI (UK) and its team of supporting companies will abide by confidentiality guarantees, backed by census legislation and the Data Protection Act.

"2011 marks 150 years since GROS took responsibility for organising Scotland's census. Our task now is to work with our suppliers as one team to ensure the 2011 Census reflects the needs of Scotland's population as quickly and efficiently as possible," Mr Macniven added: "Our rehearsal will test the plans and arrangements for 2011 with 50,000 households on March 29, 2009. That allows us two years to make any refinements before the UK-wide census day on March 27, 2011."

(GK/JM)