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Ethnic Groups: Statistics

Asked by Jas AthwalLabourDepartment for EducationTabled Answered 4 February 2026UIN 108953

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to respond to the consultation entitled Government Statistical Service Harmonisation: Assessing user needs for additional response options for the new ethnicity harmonisation standard.

Answered by Olivia Bailey

The Government Statistical Service ethnicity consultation has been promoted across the department’s analytical community. While individual staff may submit responses in their own capacity, the department is gathering input from data collection, statistical publication and policy teams to inform any collective contribution it may make to the consultation.

The department welcomes the opportunity to input into updated harmonised standards and expects to implement them across departmental data collections and statistics where appropriate in due course.

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