Since the early '90s I have had on and off involvement in Local Councils.
I do
not recall Ethnic Monitoring forms then at all.
If you believe Wikipedia, the Police were the only organisation routinely noting ethnicity prior.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classification_of_ethnicity_in_the_United_Kingdom
The first Census to include an ethnicity Question was in 1991
Most "dates" about surveys and questions seem to be from the 2001 Census onward.
And why not ?
What's wrong with a big, cheesy grin ?
Why is it "inappropriate" ?
IIRC Andy Murray's hair was once described as "frizzy, like a golly".
Nothing "racial" there.
EM may have been "sold" as having laudable aims - but plenty of people criticised the EM forms - not least because they mix nationality with race (
British, Irish, Pakistani, Indian, Black, White, Chinese etc)
These forms were also seen as "divisive".
If the forms had been used sparingly, the "laudable" claim might have been plausible.
But EM forms appeared everywhere - thus highlighting "difference".
So EM forms have justified activist commentators routinely pigeon-holing people into clone-like "
communities".
They can claim "
It's not us "pigeon-holing". People voluntarily tick the boxes".
Except it's Public Authorities (Councils, Schools, NHS etc) who create an expectation of compliance - and some people think they might suffer if they don't comply.