Today sees the return of Census forms which, when gathered and processed, will provide the Government with one of the key means of planning public services.

Page after page of questions, covering everything from your state of health to how you travel to work, play a vital role in the distribution of an estimated £45 billion of annual public expenditure in areas such as population, health, housing, employment, transport and ethnicity.

Completing the Census is required by law – and this time around there’s a questionnaire tracking system to identify households which haven’t returned theirs. Whether you have refused, were unable to do so because of language or literacy problems, or simply couldn’t be bothered, there’s no hiding place.

Census director Glen Watson says there are only six more questions in the 32-page document than in 2001.

“We started looking at the questionnaire as far back as 2004, conducting extensive consultation to make sure the statistics would be relevant and useful,” he said.

The Census team has worked with Bradford Council gathering information to reach diverse communities.

Help in completing forms has been on offer at public meetings districtwide, and the Census was translated into more than 50 languages. Sign language, online audio clips and large-print questionnaires have also been available.

“Today’s society is very different from that of ten years ago, so we have a wide-ranging community engagement,” said Mr Watson.

“Area managers have been working since August 2010, forging contacts with key groups and organisations.

“We have employed more than 40 community advisers working with specific groups in particular locations, such as Pakistani groups in Bradford. Community advisers have been using their contacts in religious groups, business and women’s networks, community groups and local organisations.”

Mr Watson says that, with the “biggest danger” to the project being public apathy, efforts have been made to ensure that completing and returning the Census is easier than ever.

He says completing it online “should appeal to many people, particularly some of our ‘hard-to-count’ groups like students”.

Online Census returns are set to top the one million mark, and the Office for National Statistics says ‘silver surfers’ are taking a lead.

“The feedback we have had from people who have filled in their questionnaires online has been that it is a really good system and I hope many more used it. It takes most people less than ten minutes per person to complete it,” said Mr Watson.

From May to June, the Census Coverage Survey team will visit about 300,000 addresses, conducting doorstep interviews to re-enumerate a sample of postcodes. Questionnaires will be scanned and Census data will be processed right through to December.

Without the Census, we would have little idea of how life was in previous centuries.

The first thorough survey of England was the Domesday Book, providing an account of life in Norman England. There has been an official census every ten years in England and Wales since 1801, except 1941. The 1841 Census is widely regarded as the first modern one of its kind.

The local studies department at Bradford Central Library has Census returns available to view online, and the General Register Office index to Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Tish Lawson, senior archivist at West Yorkshire Archive Service’s Bradford centre, says the Census is a valuable resource enabling us to find out more about people and places from the past.

“The Census helps people find out more about families and occupations. It’s a starting point that can lead on to further research,” says Tish.

“It provides information about patterns of movement and the size of families, which can lead to further information about things like the state of housing and living conditions, infant mortality, employment patterns and income increase or decrease.

“Through the Census, we can find out about churches and chapels, leading to information about baptisms.”

Tish says the Census is particularly valuable in family history research.

“By using the 1901 Census and the Creed registers from Bradford’s main workhouse, people can find out more about any ancestors who ended up there. Without the Census, they wouldn’t have that extra information,” she says.