Government Departments: Ethnic Groups
The question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how many Government departments have made representations on the absence of Sikh ethnicity data in policy development and service delivery.
Answered by Seema Malhotra
This Government recognises the valuable contribution that Sikh communities make to this country and is committed to bringing down barriers to opportunity for all.
The Government Statistical Service (GSS) ethnicity harmonised standard helps to make statistics and data more comparable, consistent and coherent. The current ethnicity harmonised standard does not recommend collecting data on Sikhs as a distinct ethnic group.
A review of the harmonised standard for ethnicity data collection is underway by the GSS Harmonisation team. As part of this review, a consultation on user needs for additional response options in a future ethnicity standard ran from 28 October 2025 to 4 February 2026.
In total, the consultation received 1,433 responses, 113 of which were from organisations, including four UK government departments. The GSS will publish a full report on the consultation in late summer 2026. This report will include all formal responses to the consultation, and the names of the organisations that responded. The GSS has published its evaluation criteria for additional response options in the new harmonised standard.
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