The UK censuses took place on 29th April 2001. They were run by the Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (NISRA),  General Register Office for Scotland (GROS), and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for both England and Wales. The UK comprises the countries of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.Statistics from the UK censuses help paint a picture of the nation and how we live. They provide a detailed snapshot of the population and its characteristics, and underpin funding allocation to provide public services. Census Support provides digitised boundary datasets of the UK, available in many Geographic Information System (GIS) formats. Most of these data are available as Open data under OGL v3 license. Postcode directories are also available although some of these are restricted to members of the academic community under 'Special Conditions'. There are many digitised boundaries available. The main group of boundaries correspond to the various levels of 2011, 2001, 1991, 1981 and 1971 census geography which are designed to be used for spatial visualisation and analysis of census statistics. Also available are historic boundaries created by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project, held at the UK Data Archive under GN 33288 Great Britain Historical Database, 1841-1939. Census Support provides the following facilities: • Easy Download The most regularly requested Census Support boundaries available as ready to use national datasets. The key 2011 and 2001 census boundary datasets and look-up tables for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are available through this facility • Boundary Data Selector This facility allows selection of boundaries, for the area required, in the format required. For example, Census Output Areas for several counties could be downloaded, or for a specific ward or district. The selection can be previewed over an Ordnance Survey back-drop map and then extracted from the Census Support database in one of several GIS formats. • Postcode Directory Download This facility allows the download of complete versions of current and historical postcode directories (sometimes referred to as look-up tables). These directories provide details of current and historical postcodes along with details of other geographies (e.g. electoral ward, health authority etc.) in which that postcode is located. As they contain a grid reference for the postcode they provide a convenient means to geo-reference the researchers' own datasets • Postcode Data Selector Provides more user control in terms of geographical coverage, number and range of fields selected and output options. Allows users to filter and subset data based on their needs so they only need to take small portions of the (large) directories as needed.