There is a direct correlation between sexual interference which can lead to even greater abuse when tweens and teenagers of different sex are forced to sleep in the same room. CAMS was intended to flag these potentially harmful situations so that families who were short of bedrooms for their mix of males and females approaching puberty, or past it, could be given priority for improved housing.

One of the arguments given by the Conservatives for making the long form census voluntary is that asking questions about the number of bedrooms is an invasion of privacy and that such information, in any event, is not needed. Only if you don’t care about children growing up in houses where it does matter!