I personally suspect they're trying to hide their laziness, though covering it with a total lack of understanding of data protection may not be the result they were aiming for. No idea on the religion point.

My mum has applied to be part of the census police. It's the most ridiculous recruitment scheme ever, to the extend that they even give you a full day's training before deciding whether to employ you!  (& yes, that is definitely training, not assessment, I even read the small print in disbelief)  The whole process takes several weeks & you have to commit a crazy amount of time for a job at that level.  I went from having a go at her for taking jobs from the unemployed to admitting that no-one could possibly go through all that whilst job hunting elsewhere, so it's really only retired people that are going to make it to the end.

I learned of further ridiculousness tonight; they ain't going to be in post until at least two months after the census date. If someone knocks on my door & asks why I failed to do something two months ago, they're going to be getting a blank look! (Not that they'll need to, as I shall be filling it in)

The entire thing seems hideously badly managed. My cynical mind wonders if it's deliberate, to provide more reasons why it shouldn't be done this way in future?