"Implausible" trans figures in census to be examined by watchdog

Census data on the number of people who identify as transgender is being reviewed after academics warned it could be flawed.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) findings suggested that there are 262,000 transgender people in England and Wales.

Michael Biggs, a professor of sociology at the University of Oxford, believes this number could be significantly wrong.

He told The Times the way the question was posed may have confused people who do not have a strong grasp of the English language.

Newham and Brent, where many residents speak English as a second language, recorded the highest proportion of "trans" people in the UK.

According to data, those who do not speak English fluently were five times more likely to identify as transgender in the most-recent census.

Alice Sullivan, a professor of sociology from University College London who has also expressed concerns about the question, said:

“This should have been the gold standard. It’s so hard to understand how the ONS could fail ‘questionnaire design 101’ in this way.

The ONS said it is “possible” the question was misinterpreted and is working with the Office for Statistics Regulation to review data.