Request
My own searches of the 1921 Census on Findmypast have revealed numerous and basic errors and omissions, and it seems wholly wrong to expect users to bear the cost of informing Findmypast of their mistakes, as they would then have no financial incentive to get it right.
Therefore, please provide specific details of
(1) The quality standard that Findmypast were contractually obliged to achieve in the digital transcription of the 1921 Census, in terms of an acceptable percentage accuracy, and
(2) Steps taken to measure the accuracy of transcription, and;
(3) Actual accuracy rates measured, and;
(4) Whether users or Findmypast are expected to bear the cost of correcting errors
Outcome
Information withheld.
Response
I can confirm that The National Archives holds information relevant to your request
Unfortunately, we are unable to provide you with this information.
Information concerning the methodology authorised by The National Archives and utilised by Find My Past in the transcription of the 1921 Census as documented in the contract between these parties is considered exempt under section 41(1) and 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act.
Advice and Assistance:
In the interests of providing advice and assistance in accordance with section 16(1) of the FOI Act please find below some contextual information provided by our partners at Findmypast which we hope you will find useful.
The 1921 Census was the first to be conducted following the introduction of the Census Act of 1920. This legislation strictly prohibited the release of personal information by the Registrar-General so, in line with government policy and the promise of confidentiality, the transcription process had to operate under strict security procedures.
To ensure absolute confidentiality of the personal data within the census returns each digital image had to be broken up into segments so that the person transcribing it could not see a whole record or household. This is why you may encounter various spellings of the same surname or street address, because the original documents were transcribed by multiple people without the context of the whole. These segmented images and transcripts were then encrypted and stored securely before being returned to Findmypast just 50 days prior to launch. These regulations and our commitment to publishing all 38 million records on January 6th 2022, meant that our team had a very narrow window in which to decrypt all data and images, match each transcript to the relevant image, and “clean” the data to standardise names, places, and other information.
In order to fulfil our commitment to publishing the census on time and in full, it was agreed with our partners at The National Archives that “clean-up” of the data would be an ongoing process. We want to assure users that this process is already well underway and we are continuously reviewing, cleaning, standardising and enhancing our transcripts to ensure the highest possible degree of accuracy.
While Findmypast have endeavoured to achieve a high accuracy rate in the transcription of the 1921 census and are continually reviewing the data to correct any errors, some errors may inevitably appear. If a user has identified an error in a 1921 Census transcript, they can report this at no cost by the following methods:
• If purchased with Micropayments or the user has a Premium subscription, the error can be reported on-site.
• Transcription errors found without purchasing the transcript itself can be reported to Findmypast’s Customer Support team by emailing transcriptsupport@findmypast.com with ‘1921 Census transcription update’ as the subject line. Please include a link to the record and a brief description of the error, for example, the first name is recorded as Jo when the image shows it as John.
Explanatory Annex
Exemptions applied:
Section 41: Information provided in confidence
Section 41 (1) of the Act exempts information if (a) it was obtained by the public authority from any other person (including another public authority), and (b) the disclosure of the information to the public (otherwise than under the Act) by the public authority holding it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or any other person.
In this case the exemption applies because the information was provided by Find My Past under an expectation of confidence which they would expect The National Archives to honour.
Further guidance on the application of this exemption can be found here:
https://cy.ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1432163/information-provided-in-confidence-section-41.pdf
Section 43(2): Commercial Interests
This section exempts information whose disclosure would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of any person. In this case, the exemption applies because release would prejudice the commercial interests of both Find My Past and The National Archives.
Section 43(2) is a qualified exemption and we are required to conduct a public interest test when applying any qualified exemption. This means that after it has been decided that the exemption is engaged, the public interest in releasing the information must be considered. If the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in withholding it then the exemption does not apply and the information must be released. In the FOIA there is a presumption that information should be released unless there are compelling reasons to withhold it.
The public interest test has now been concluded and the balance of the public interest has been found to fall in favour of withholding information covered by the section 43(2) exemption.
Considerations in favour of the release of the information included The National Archives’ commitment to openness and transparency in its commercial activities, to allow public scrutiny and to demonstrate that public funds are being used in an efficient and effective way. Furthermore private sector companies engaging in commercial activities with the public sector must expect some information about those activities to be disclosed.
Considerations against disclosure included the recognition that disclosure is likely to provide information to direct competitors within the market that would create an imbalance and a commercial advantage to those competitors. Furthermore disclosure of this information is also likely to affect The National Archives’ ability to negotiate contracts in the future and consequently generate revenue from non-public funds. It is also considered that disclosure would be likely to deter potential bidders for future contracts from competing and sharing commercially sensitive information with us.
As such, release of this information is seen to prejudice the commercial interests of both Find My Past and The National Archives. This would outweigh any benefits of release. It was therefore decided that the balance of the public interest lies clearly in favour of withholding the material on this occasion.
Further guidance on the application of this exemption cab be found here:
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guidance-index/freedom-of-information-and-environmental-information-regulations/section-43-commercial-interests/