Scots will be given a short extension to complete the Census after an embarrassingly low response rate.
SNP Cabinet Secretary Angus Robertson confirmed the deadline has been pushed back to the end of May.
However, Tory MSP Donald Cameron described the Scottish Government's handling of the Census as "nothing short of disastrous".
Figures from National Records of Scotland (NRS) revealed earlier this week that some 700,000 of the 2.7 million households had yet to submit their response.
More than a third of households in Glasgow have failed to complete the census - the worst record in the country.
May 1 was set as the deadline and the prospect of £1000 fines for failing to comply looming.
In a Holyrood statement, Robertson announced the National Records of Scotland will continue to accept census returns until the end of May.
He also revealed that 77.2 per cent of Scottish households have provided a census return.
He said: "Every household must complete Scotland's Census. In addition to being a civic responsibility completion of the census is also a legal responsibility, as it has always been for previous censuses. Failure to meet this responsibility can result in prosecution, which could lead to a criminal record and a fine.
"However, the shared focus is, and must be, on ensuring that people are supported and encouraged to complete the census."
The census was delayed by a year in Scotland due to the covid pandemic, but it went ahead in England and Wales.
Around 97 per cent of households south of the border completed the survey in time.
Cameron added: “It was needlessly delayed by a year and has ended up costing taxpayers an extra £30 million. Almost a quarter of households have still not completed it ahead of the SNP’s initial deadline.
“The SNP ignored Scottish Conservative calls to run the census in sync with the rest of the United Kingdom. They would have clearly benefitted from a UK-wide publicity campaign, which delivered an extremely high response rate elsewhere."
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