Asked by: Harpreet Uppal (Labour - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department identifies employment, earnings and occupational outcomes for Sikhs as a distinct group.
Answered by Diana Johnson - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department has not identified employment, earnings or occupational outcomes for Sikhs as a distinct group.
A range of information on Universal Credit claimants, including claimant characteristics, is published as part of the Department’s official statistics. The latest release is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/universal-credit-quarterly-statistics-29-april-2013-to-12-february-2026. Additional data can be accessed through the Department’s Stat-Xplore service, which allows users to explore benefit statistics by a variety of claimant characteristics where held: https://stat-xplore.dwp.gov.uk/
Asked by: Harpreet Uppal (Labour - Huddersfield)
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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.
Asked by: Harpreet Uppal (Labour - Huddersfield)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the visibility of Sikhs across Government data collection systems.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
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.
Asked by: Harpreet Uppal (Labour - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department identifies educational attainment outcomes for Sikhs as a distinct group.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not identify educational attainment outcomes for Sikhs as a distinct group in its measurements of outcomes across key stages. This is because the department does not collect data and report on religion as a pupil characteristic in the way that it does for other characteristics such as ethnicity or sex.
The Higher Education Statistics Agency is responsible for collecting and publishing data on the UK higher education (HE) sector. These data are reported annually and shared with the department and include information on student outcomes by religion.
The Office for Students, the independent regulator of HE in England, annually report on student outcomes including religion in their ‘Outcomes data dashboard’, which can be found here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/data-and-analysis/student-characteristics-data/outcomes-data-dashboard/.
Asked by: Harpreet Uppal (Labour - Huddersfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what evidence her Department uses to assess socioeconomic inequalities impacting Sikhs where Sikh-specific ethnicity data is unavailable.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Treasury carefully considers the impact of its decisions on those sharing protected characteristics, including religion, in line with both its legal obligations and its commitment to fairness. The department uses the best available evidence to assess equalities impacts in each case.
The Government Statistical Service is undertaking an ongoing review of the harmonised standard for ethnicity data used across government. This work has included a now closed public consultation. The aim is to ensure that data collection is robust, consistent and reflects user and community needs.
Asked by: Harpreet Uppal (Labour - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase access to enrichment activities in Huddersfield.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department is committed to ensuring all young people across England can access a wide range of enrichment opportunities at school and college, as part of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity.
In the ‘Every Child Achieving and Thriving’ White Paper, we set out our ambition to introduce an enrichment entitlement for every pupil, underpinned by a core enrichment offer that every school and college should aim to provide.
This is supported by a new Enrichment Framework, published on Monday 15 June, setting out benchmarks, case studies and practical tools to help schools plan high-quality enrichment more strategically. The ‘Every Child Can’ programme, funded through the Dormant Assets Scheme, will deliver £132.5 million for new activities programmes delivered through schools, community programmes, weekend activities and holiday provision. It is structured around the same five categories as the Enrichment Framework.
We are also putting in place support for wider provision, including through PE and School Sport Partnerships, Music Hubs, and the £22.5 million Enrichment Expansion Programme, delivered with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, supporting up to 400 schools in the most deprived areas of England to meet these benchmarks.
Asked by: Harpreet Uppal (Labour - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment (a) his Department and (b) UKHSA has made of the potential risks of exposure to high ambient temperatures during pregnancy including (i) stillbirth, (ii) preterm birth and (iii) maternal health complications.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) recognise that there are risks to pregnant women caused by exposure to extreme high temperatures, which are set out in the Adverse weather and health plan equity review and impact assessment 2024. This includes an assessment on stillbirth, pre-term birth, and maternal health complications.
The UKHSA provides a weather-health alerting system for England, which alerts the public, including specific vulnerable groups such as pregnant women, and public sector organisations to prepare for impacts of adverse weather, including high temperatures. Risks to health are communicated via heat-health alerts.
Asked by: Harpreet Uppal (Labour - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will instruct NHS England to notify each children’s hospice of the amount of NHS funding they will receive over the next three years.
Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Children and young people’s hospices and integrated care boards will be informed of their children and young people’s hospice grant allocations for 2026/27 imminently. Communication regarding future allocations, for 2027/28 and 2028/29, will be sent once the 2026/27 process is complete.
Asked by: Harpreet Uppal (Labour - Huddersfield)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Motor Insurance Taskforce’s final report, published on 10 December 2025, what steps she is taking to assess and help tackle barriers facing low‑income and financially excluded consumers in the motor insurance market; and whether she plans to introduce targeted interventions for those groups.
Answered by Lilian Greenwood - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The taskforce considered proposals related to subsidising motor insurance for households on low incomes but the consequences of direct market intervention are often hard to predict and could result in increased costs for others. The government has no plans to take these proposals forward at this time.
Instead, the taskforce has focused on driving down the cost of claims – rooting out inefficiencies, increasing safety, and reducing opportunities for fraud and theft – to stabilise and ultimately reduce the premiums that all motorists pay, including those on lower incomes.
Asked by: Harpreet Uppal (Labour - Huddersfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the likelihood of the £100m contingency from within the £1.5bn allocated for compensating Equitable Life policyholders being needed to make payments to eligible With-Profits Annuitants.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Equitable Life Payment Scheme has been fully wound down and closed since 2016. The only remaining part of the Payment Scheme in operation is the annual payments made to eligible With-Profit-Annuitants and the Scheme is on track to distribute the remainder of the £1.5 billion as planned.