Press Release - Unlocking the Past: the 1901 Census Online
14 November 2003
The 1901 census website is now running successfully and problems
originally encountered when the Public Record Office and QinetiQ
implemented the site in January 2002 have been overcome. Moreover,
according to todays report to Parliament by NAO head Sir John
Bourn, the lessons learned will be valuable to government and other
public sector bodies planning to make services available on the
Internet.
The Public Record Office had planned a low key launch for the
website which provides online access to the results of the 1901
census. However, press coverage on the day the website was launched
was more extensive than expected and resulted in overwhelming
demand. By noon on the launch day, 2 January 2002,
1.2 million users an hour were attempting to access the site,
which had been designed to cope with a peak of 1.2 million
users in a 24 hour period.
The site was withdrawn on 7 January 2002 and QinetiQ
instigated technical reviews. Agreement on the changes required to
launch a working website was achieved with the assistance of the
Office of the e-Envoy. The site was made available with restricted
access on 27 August 2002. And, in November 2002,
full access, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, was restored. The
site now receives between 8,000 and 10,000 visitors a day and has
generated some 4.5 million up to 31 October 2003.
Todays report points out that the Public Record Office had
previous experience of managing information technology projects.
However, lacking the resources to fund the development of an online
service for the 1901 census, it implemented and managed the
project through a PPP arrangement with QinetiQ whose agreed
development costs were some 8 million. The project is intended to
be self-financing with QinetiQ incurring the investment and
development costs and the ongoing operating costs. Once QinetiQ has
recovered agreed development costs, the National Archives (formed
in April 2003 from the merger of the Public Record Office and
Historical Manuscripts Commission) and QinetiQ will share equally
the net revenues from the service generated by charges levied for
access to documents from the website.
Todays report concludes that the Public Record Office managed
the main risks associated with the project for example, by
recognising that it did not have all the skills in-house to
complete the project alone, by conducting research into potential
levels of demand and by transferring the development risk to a
contractor. However, the Public Record Office could not have
transferred the risk to its reputation if the project had not
succeeded.
Other government departments and agencies providing services via
the internet can learn from the way in which the Public Record
Office made the 1901 census available online and how it overcame
the problems which arose. The principal lessons are:
The key recommendations for the National Archives are as
follows:
Commenting on the report, Sir John said:
"The project to provide online access to the
1901 census was ambitious and, ultimately, successful. In
implementing the project, the Public Record Office and its
contractor QinetiQ encountered a number of problems which they
managed to resolve eventually. It is important that the wider
public sector learns the lessons from this project when
implementing projects to provide access to services online. Looking
forward, the National Archives should also consider these lessons
if it decides to provide online access to the results of the 1911
census."
Notes for Editors
- The Public Record Office has a statutory duty to make census
information available to the public following the 100 year
period during which the records were closed to public access.
Previous censuses are available on microfiche and microfilm at the
Family Records Centre in Islington. The Public Record Office
decided that the website would be launched on the same day as
access to the data was required by statute:
2 January 2002.
- The 1901 census is available on line at www.census.pro.gov.uk.
Initial access to the website and a search of the index is free.
Viewing transcribed data cost 50 pence for an individual item
and then 50 per pence for a list of all those in that
persons household. Viewing a digital image costs 75 pence.
Payment is by credit or debit cards online, or through the purchase
of prepaid vouchers.
- QinetiQs website is http://www.qinetiq.com/
- Press notices and reports are available from the date of
publication on the NAO website at http://www.nao.org.uk/ Hard copies can
be obtained from The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
- The Comptroller and Auditor General, Sir John Bourn, is the
head of the National Audit Office which employs some 800 staff. He
and the NAO are totally independent of Government. He certifies the
accounts of all Government departments and a wide range of other
public sector bodies; and he has statutory authority to report to
Parliament on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which
departments and other bodies have used their resources.
Press Notice 69/03
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