Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether Sikhs and Jews are recorded as (a) ethnic or (b) religious groups by the agencies his department is responsible for.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department adheres to the current harmonised definitions for ethnicity and religion, which are owned and managed by the Office for National Statistics.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment their Department has made of trends in the level of discrimination faced by (a) Sikhs and (b) Jews as ethnic groups in the provision of their Department's services.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer my Hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 18 July 2025 to PQ UIN 66615.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his department plans to respond to the public consultation on the Government Statistical Service Harmonisation Standard for Ethnicity that concludes on 4 February.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department is not planning a central response to the public consultation on ethnicity harmonisation standards. However, it is likely that individual statistical production teams will have responded to the consultation. This information is not tracked nor held centrally.
The Department recognises that harmonisation is important for effective and accurate data comparison. Harmonisation standards are “designed to promote alignment across organisations, not to enforce identical approaches”. Therefore, on a team level, statistical producers may have views on how standards apply to their datasets of interest and how ethnicity data collection and reporting should be altered. A formal, central response would not capture the nuances of user need.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the consultation, Government Statistical Service Harmonisation: Assessing user needs for additional response options for the new ethnicity harmonisation standard, published on 28 October 2025, whether his Department plans to make a submission.
Answered by Samantha Dixon - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My department notes plans by the Office for National Statistics for an updated harmonised standard, which will be applied to our departmental statistics where applicable in due course.
This is an open consultation so anyone can provide a response on an individual basis. Those from my department with responsibilities and expertise in this subject are considering the consultation and will respond if necessary.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the consultation, Government Statistical Service Harmonisation: Assessing user needs for additional response options for the new ethnicity harmonisation standard, published on 28 October 2025, whether his Department plans to make a submission.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department notes the plan by the Office for National Statistics for an updated harmonised standard, which will be applied to our departmental statistics where applicable in due course.
This is an open consultation due to close on 4 February 2026, and the Department provided a response on 28 January 2026.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the consultation, Government Statistical Service Harmonisation: Assessing user needs for additional response options for the new ethnicity harmonisation standard, published on 28 October 2025, whether her Department plans to make a submission.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office notes plans by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for an updated harmonised standard, which will be applied to our departmental statistics where applicable in due course.
This is an open consultation so anyone can provide a response on an individual basis. The Home Office typically gathers views from across the department prior to making any decisions about whether an organisational response is merited ahead of the deadline to respond.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department classifies (a) Sikhs and (b) Jews as (i) an ethnic and (ii) a religious group.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department collects information on the ethnicity of pupils annually through the spring school census, in line with the harmonised standards set by the Office for National Statistics and the Government Statistical Service.
The department publishes the data code sets that must be used when submitting information as part of the Common Basic Data Set (CBDS). The CBDS ethnicity code set does not include separate categories for Sikhs or Jews.
The department does not collect information on pupils’ religion.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department for Education:
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 - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
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.
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what data his Department holds on health outcomes for (a) Sikhs and (b) Jews.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has access to data from several population health surveys, undertaken by other organisations or departments, which record the religion of respondents, and which include Sikh and Jewish as categories. These include:
- Health Survey for England;
- General Practice Patient Survey;
- Annual Population Survey; and
- Active Lives Survey.
The Department publishes some health outcomes data by religion, including for Sikh and Jewish populations, based on survey data. The Public Health Outcomes Framework includes, for example, a breakdown by religion for its indicators of smoking prevalence, the percentage of the population reporting a long-term musculoskeletal problem, and the percentage of adult social care users who have as much social contact as they would like. Further information on the smoking prevalence in adults, the percentage of the population reporting a long-term musculoskeletal problem, and the percentage of adult social care users who have as much social contact as they would like is avaiable, respectively, at the following three links:
In addition to survey data, the Department manages the National Drug and Alcohol Monitoring System and reports annual data on the religion of those entering drug and alcohol treatment services, with categories including Jewish and Sikh. Further information on substance misuse treatment for adults is avaiable at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/substance-misuse-treatment-for-adults-statistics-2023-to-2024
The Department also has access to published data on health outcomes by religion from other Government departments. These include reports from the Office for National Statistics on Religion and Health in England and Wales, based on data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study, and Religion by housing, health, employment, and education, England and Wales, based on data from the 2021 Census. Both reports include data for Jewish and Sikh populations, and are avaiable, respectively, at the following two links:
Asked by: Jas Athwal (Labour - Ilford South)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps is he taking to ensure that all leaseholders, including existing leaseholders, have their ground rent reduced to a peppercorn.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Through the draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill published on 27 January 2026, the government is proposing to cap ground rent at £250 per year, before changing to a peppercorn in 40 years.
For further information, I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 27 January 2026 (HCWS1278).