Next year the national UK wide census is taken – it happens every decade and is run locally by the local authority.

The 80% of Southwark Councils budget provided by central government is based on how many people the census finds. Other public bodies are also funded on the number of people found to be living here.

The last census was undertaken in 2001 when Labour ran the council and achieved the 8th worst census completion in the country. This is partly residents not joining in, partly not engaging residents, but equally it takes a well led and run census locally to make is successful at getting people to fill in the forms. The 2001 produced such dire results with such bad consequences in the funding Southwark Council received that more effort is being put into getting this one done better. A cross party scrutiny was undertaken last year to help ensure it is done better this time round with plenty of useful recommendations.

But is Labour led Southwark Council doing enough. What’s at stake is many tens of millions of pounds every year.